The adventure begins

Telephony was already almost half a century old when the seeds of the Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España were sown in Madrid on a Holy Saturday in 1924. It is the first clear attempt to organise in our country that revolutionary service which consisted of speaking at a distance and which several small companies, which were then integrated into the CTNE, had tried to set up. The determination of the American company ITT - embodied in two brothers as enterprising as they are audacious, Hernand and Sosthenes Behn -, the confidence of some initial investors - such as Banco Urquijo and Banco Hispanoamericano - and that little bit of luck that is always needed to undertake something big, resulted in a company with American shareholders but clearly Spanish and which, from then until today, has been focused on talent, commitment, innovation and anticipation.

The first chairman

Estanislao de Urquijo y Ussía is the first chairman of Telefónica and will be so for 21 years. The Marqués de Urquijo was linked to the family of one of the first Spanish banks to finance CTNE and during his years in office the company went from being a dream to a key company for Spain.

The million pesetas company

CTNE is founded with a modest capital of one million pesetas (about 6,000 euros at the exchange rate, without taking inflation into account, of course) divided into 2,000 shares of 500 pesetas each (3 euros), and that same month of August it undertakes, by means of a contract with the State, to extend telephony throughout the country and to maintain all the jobs.

Cables under the sea

Networks begin to be laid, cities begin to be connected, and even a submarine cable is deployed between Europe and Africa - Algeciras and Ceuta - which made it possible, in 1924, to communicate with Tetouan during the war in Morocco. It was just the beginning of an exciting adventure. From a huge journey.