The American influence in Telefónica's public relations strategy during the 20's and 30's.

The Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE, `Telefónica' in colloquial speech then) was incorporated in 1924. It was a strategic move of New York-based holding ITT. In contrast with a landscape of State-owned networks across Europe, Telefónica was the subsidiary of an American corporation, with internal organization, procedures and ideas that revealed that origin. We study the influence in Telefónica's early development of public relations policies created by American Telephone & Telegraph. Although the environment was quite different, the new organization faced the same challenge that gave birth to the brilliant AT&T's communication strategy, from 1907 onwards, to create the image of a “beloved monopoly”, in expression of the classical work of Roland Marchand.