Italian public payphones evolved from heavy electromechanical units of the 1950s–1970s to advanced electronic card and coin telephones used by SIP and later Telecom Italia. They were housed in distinctive street booths ranging from aluminium-and-glass kiosks to open-sided shelters. By the 1990s, smartcard phones dominated before mobile phones caused rapid decline.
IPM (Industria Politecnica Meridionale) was one of Italy’s major public-telephone manufacturers, based at Arzano, near Naples, and its payphone history stretches from the early 1960s into the 2000s.
IPM’s first public telephone. Token-operated and intended primarily for local calls.
mid-1960s
U+I (Urbano + Interurbano)
Major SIP token telephone permitting both local and long-distance calls. IPM designed the unified U+I system; Urmet also manufactured it.
1978
G+M / coin-token generation
A more flexible multi-channel telephone capable of handling both Italian telephone tokens and coins; produced in the IPM/Urmet system.
1987
Rotor
Probably IPM’s most famous telephone. Designed by Rodolfo Bonetto, with an ingenious internal rotating coin/token mechanism. Manufactured by both IPM and Urmet for SIP.
1990s
Rotor New
An export-oriented development of the Rotor. IPM marketed it internationally against Ascom, Elcotel, GPT, Landis & Gyr and other manufacturers.
1990s
Combi
IPM’s combined card-and-coin export payphone. Contemporary documentation shows it competing for markets including the USA, Morocco, UK, Hong Kong and Thailand.
1990s
Publifon
IPM-manufactured payphone sold in Spain under the Jusan brand. Spanish government certification from 1997 specifically identifies IPM in Italy as the manufacturer.
c.1998
Rotor 2000
The striking modular international payphone we’ve just discussed, associated with George Sowden/Sowden Design. Coin, card and combined versions were developed.
late 1990s
Modular ISDN public telephone
IPM’s research centre records a Telefono pubblico ISDN modulare alongside the Rotor 2000 as one of its principal development projects.
2002
Digito
Telecom Italia’s sophisticated ISDN payphone, designed by Giugiaro and manufactured by IPM Group and Urmet. It offered voice plus services such as SMS, fax and email.
