It was not he who set up Olivetti's vastly successful mobile-telephone business, Omnitel Pronto Italia, but his predecessor.

ECONOMIST: Meet the mechanic

And Silvio Scaglia had a track record for keeping promises at Omnitel.

FORBES: A fiber niche is nice

Scaglia in five years transformed the Olivetti subsidiary, Omnitel Pronto Italia, into Europe's second-largest national wireless operator, stepping down when Olivetti bought Telecom Italia in 1999.

FORBES: A fiber niche is nice

Omnitel had already passed through its fragile launch and covered about 60% of Italy and around 80% of the population when Mr Colaninno took over in September 1996.

ECONOMIST: Telecom Italia

Although the firm runs a successful telecoms business, Infostrada, as well as Omnitel, Italy's second cell-phone operator, Roberto Colaninno, the chief executive, and his team cannot claim credit for this.

ECONOMIST: Telecom Italia