At the beginning of 1997 Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) faced the fast growth of the mobile communication demand in the dynamic and extremely competitive Italian market. Mobile communication customers were becoming not only larger and larger, but also more demanding, especially in terms of service quality. TIM was forced to respond to the customers’ expectations by efficiently controlling the plants and ensuring a high service level for the equipment in place all over the country. This improvement has been achieved by gradually introducing a Telework Program for the technicians of the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) group Network Department starting from December 1997.

The Telework Program objective was to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the Network Management processes by decoupling the technicians from the administrative centers and freeing them from the burden of daily checking in and out from the Regional Centers (Presidi Territoriali Regionali, PTR). With the telework implementation, staff clocks-in from home remotely and immediately starts working on the BSC and BTS transmission equipment in the assigned area.