Telefonica de Espana SA’s Russian adventures have caught all the headlines, but the ambitious Spanish phone company is quietly making its mark in several other countries, and has just won joint venture agreements in both Brazil and France. In Brazil, Telefonica is to join forces with the Spanish Banco Exterior and the Brazilian Standard Electrica former ITT Corp subsidiary to form a new company for manufacturing telephone exchanges using Alcatel NV technology. Telefonica and the Banco Exterior will share a 32% share in the new firm, to be called Sesa Rio, and will put up a total of $6.5m capital, with an option to increase the Spanish share to 49% over the next three years. Standard Electrica in Brazil will provide the rest of the capital is the beneficiary of the technology transfer agreement with Alcatel. Closer to home, Telefonica has an agreement with France Telecom to extend and digitalise the telecommunications networks between their two countries. The agreement involves rapid development in the France Direct and Spain Direct phone services, development of interfaces and gateways, interconnection of viewdata services, establishment of a new tariff system for international sevices, and joint development of mobile telephone networks and services. Extending Telefonica’s relationship with Fiat SpA’s Telettra SpA telecommunications subsidiary, the Italian company has approved allotment of 5.6m new shares to Telefonica, raising its stake in Telettra to 10%. And back home, Telefonica has signed with Management Science America’s MSA Iberica subsidiary for financial software, primarily in connection with installation and consultancy.
