President of Telefonica de Espana SA, Juan Villalonga, is doing his utmost to persuade the Spanish government to accelerate the liberalization of the telecommunication market in Spain, since he is fearful that should the European Commission not approve the Spanish carrier’s participation in the Unisource BV services alliance, Telefonica could stand to lose business worth some $775m in 1997. European commissioner for competition, Karel Van Miert, has warned the Spanish government that its staggered plans leading to liberalization by mid-1999 are not good enough, insisting that alternative infrastructure should be licensed from the beginning of 1998. Spanish minister of public works, Rafael Arias-Salgado, pleaded that legal complications make the extra period necessary, but according to El Pais, the Commission suspects this is a time-wasting tactic to consolidate the position of the second operator to be built around the state broadcaster, Retevision SA.
