Neglect of the telecommunications infrastructure in Spain has been so total that the telephone exchanges consist largely of old Strowger rotary and crossbar relays clanking away – but with the Barcelona Olympics and a World’s Fair in Seville both coming up in 1992, Spain is determined to show the world a modern face. Accordingly, it has decided to skip the TXE-4-type electronic analogue reed-relay exchange altogether and go straight to an up-to-date digital switching system. Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana, only 47%-owned by the state, but with the monopoly not only of the public switched network, but also of data communications and networking, cellular mobile phones and equipment procurement and supply, is planning to invest $10,000m over the next four years to give Spain a telephone network that it can show off to all those visitors with pride in 1992. L M Ericsson, already a major presence in Spain, and AT&T-Philips, helping resolve the problems of Marconi Espanola, are well-placed to win substantial business from the programme. Although it is Spain’s largest company, Telefonica is still surprisingly small given the size and standing of Spain – just 63,000 employees and annual sales of $366.6m.
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