Società Finanziaria Telefonica

Società Finanziaria Telefonica (STET)

Company type	Holding company
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	October 21, 1933 (1933-10-21)
Founder	IRI
Defunct	1997 (1997)
Fate	Merged with Telecom Italia, Telespazio and Italcable to form Telecom Italia S.p.A.
Headquarters	Rome , Italy
Area served	Italy
Key people	Miro Allione (managing director until 1993), Ernesto Pascale (managing director until 1997)
Products	Telecommunications services, telecommunications research (via CSELT), executive training (via Scuola Superiore Guglielmo Reiss Romoli)
Owner	IRI

Società Finanziaria Telefonica (STET, ) was an Italian holding company in the telecommunications sector, owned by IRI.

History

Established by IRI on October 21, 1933, under the name STET – Società Torinese per l'Esercizio Telefonico, the firm was based in Rome with operational facilities located in Turin. STET was responsible for overseeing technical, administrative, and financial operations for Italy's state-run telephone and public telecommunications services.

In 1964, STET launched the research institute CSELT to advance the modernization of telecommunications across Italy. A decade later, in 1976, it inaugurated the Scuola Superiore Guglielmo Reiss Romoli campus in L'Aquila aimed at executive training within the group. During the late 1960s, its subsidiary Selenia pioneered the development of Europe's first minicomputer, known as the Selenia Gp-16.

Following privatization efforts initiated by the first Amato administration in 1992, STET was restructured as "STET - Società Finanziaria Telefonica S.p.A."

In 1993, managing director Miro Allione left the company to establish Stream TV, which evolved into a prominent pay television and digital satellite provider in Italy.

By 1997, STET merged with Telecom Italia, alongside Telespazio and Italcable, creating the new corporate entity Telecom Italia S.p.A.. This merger coincided with the departure of Ernesto Pascale, a significant managing director at STET.