Talk is cheap, but not from a telefonino

ON ROME'S number 87 bus, three people are talking and the other 40, including some bemused tourists, are listening in. A chubby blonde woman in a smart green coat is confirming a hairdresser's appointment, a bespectacled engineering graduate is reassuring his mother he will be home for lunch, and an elderly woman is discussing the installation of a new gas boiler.

Cellphones are fast replacing Vespas, designer shades and cappuccinos as the essential symbol of Italian life. Today, one in three Italian adults is the proud owner of a telefonino, or mobile phone, making this talkative nation one of the most cellphone- friendly peoples in Europe. And on the basis that 13 million telefonino owners cannot be wrong, mobile phones are now becoming a political issue, their owners a powerful consumer lobby.

When the two cellphone licencees, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) and Omnitel, announced New Year price hikes of up to 186 percent for calls from fixed phones to mobiles, there was a near revolution. Enraged owners of cellulari protested, consumer groups accused the two companies of price fixing, and the media had a field day.

Even the Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, said consumer protests were jus-tified and berated the companies for sneaking the tariffs through in the festive season. Politicians across the spectrum - themselves devotees of the telefono cellulare - cried foul. One MP urged callers to turn off their phones for a day; the stop-chat was reduced to a symbolic 15 minutes.

The expansion of the Italian cellphone market has been staggering. In 1993, there were fewer than a million users. In 1998, that figure had risen to more than 13 million and is predicted to hit the 20 million mark by 2001. At first deemed an expensive work tool, the telefonino quickly became a status symbol. In the past two years of extraordinary growth, it has become an everyday item.

The boom in use is partly due to astute marketing. "Family" subscriptions, which allow cheap rates in non-peak hours, have been a huge success. Increasing numbers of Italian women are buying mobiles for themselves and often for teenage offspring, using the phone as an electronic umbilical cord.

The Education Minister last year warned against the presence of telefonini in class, saying it was "diseducational". Despite this, there are plans for a special baby-telefonino that could slip into the school satchel alongside the pencil case and lunch box. The project, being examined by Telecom, involves phones with five pre-programmed numbers and a block to prevent bambino calling his playmates.

Italians' love affair with the mobile phone has spawned much sociological analysis, but most agree that the device appeals to Italians' innate loquaciousness and love of theatre. Conversing in a loud voice at the supermarket or on the beach is not seen as an invasion of other people's space; for many, having an audience is part of the fun. Though TIM has produced a booklet on telefonino etiquette, its advice seems to have gone unheeded, even on aeroplanes, despite safety warnings. It's common to see motorists talking away as they thunder down the autostrada or lever themselves into a tight parking spot - even though they risk fines of up to pounds 140. For scooter riders, forced either to ride one-handed or pull over, a new earpiece device is proving a hit.

Surveys indicate that a disproportionate amount of Italian cell-chat concerns food. The standard joke about the businessman who calls home as he is turning into his street ("Put on the pasta honey, I'm nearly home") is not far from the truth. When men aren't ordering their meals, they can often be heard reassuring mothers or wives that they have indeed eaten.

TIM and Omnitel have defended their price rises, saying it was a simplification of existing tariffs. But the fact that the two rivals raised their rates almost simultaneously raised suspicions of an under-the-table deal.

The wrath of the cellphone population was not assuaged, and the protest was picked up by the Telecommuni-cations Regulatory Authority. It immediately called for prices to be frozen until an inquiry was held. The government announced that the tender for a fourth mobile phone operator will be brought forward. Even the anti-trust watchdog opened an investigation and sent the financial police to search the headquarterss of TIM and Omnitel.

"The politicians themselves, as users, rebelled against the unjustified price rises," said Donata Monti, national secretary of consumer association ADICONSUM. "This episode shows that mobile phone users could be a very powerful lobby."