In 1982, he was appointed Federal Minister for Post and Communication, in the first Kohl cabinet. Before his appointment, he was He retained his post for the next three cabinets Kohl, Schwarz-Schilling was never part of Kohl's inner circle and is, by some, regarded as unremarkable minister. Others see him as cabinet minister who pursued a long-term strategy of modernisation and actually got things done. Under his ministry cable television was introduced in Germany and commercial television was allowed to broadcast. Deutsche Post was privatised, including its Telecom business. Schwarz-Schilling also introduced GSM nationwide. By the time he left office, Germany had one of the most modern communications infrastructures in the world.