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.