Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España: From subsidiary to leader

The telephone was transferred very soon to Spain but its spread in the country was slow and limited as a result of a restrictive, contradictory and irresolute policy, lagging behind advanced economies. This paper addresses a major topic in history of the Spanish telecommunications: the creation by ITT in 1924 of Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, a firm operating in the whole domestic market according the terms of a license granted by the Spanish government to ITT, its nationalization under Franco and its first internationalization. The concession granted created a monopoly which remained unaltered for many years in spite of political changes. The Spanish telephone network experienced an important growth and got a high degree of modernization with the automatic devices provided by the manufacturing group of ITT. This growth and modernization was the first step in CTNE's conquest of the world market and in its conversion into a global leader. The sources on which the paper is based come mainly from the protagonist company, CTNE, and are of great relevance, due to their primary character.