We surpass half a million telephones in service

The number of telephones in service in Spain exceeded half a million for the first time (exactly: 537,871) in 1948, the same year Telefónica's revenues also exceeded 500 million pesetas (more than 3 million euros). Even so, the rate of installations is still lower than demand, which continued to increase. Between 1948 and 1949, more than 120,000 telephones were installed, but requests totalled 145,000. A gap that will continue to widen in the coming years.

Amidst various challenges, mobile telephony and TV arrive

Although these were hard years for the Spanish economy and the world situation, which did not favour construction and installation plans, in 1948 the most important news was the arrival of television in Spain, on an experimental basis. And outside our borders, another milestone was reached: in the first days of this year, a mobile telephone service began operating in the United States on the highway between Washington and Boston, based on a deficient semi-cellular system, plagued by interference. It would take years for it to spread to the population and revolutionise us, in 1948 it would only spread to police and emergency services in other American cities. While at CTNE we continued to work steadily to improve and expand the service, with the following challenges, among others, being met: • We install 19,300 lines of automatic equipment • We implement a central battery system in 26 call centres • We commission six high-frequency systems with 12 channels, representing an increase of 72 main circuits • We deploy a new radio-telephone circuit between Tenerife and Madrid (the second between the mainland and the Canary Islands) and several direct circuits are established with Havana and Tangiers • We open the telephone service in 67 localities that lacked it, 25 of them in the province of Teruel.

Increasing staff numbers and improving social conditions

In 1948, we find in the letter to the shareholders from the chairman, José Navarro Reverter y Gomes, a detail of the social improvements for the employees of the company, which at the end of the year had 12,852 workers, including collectors. Among the improvements for the staff, the creation of the Company Health Insurance Fund for the direct provision of health insurance and the establishment of the Company Group for the cultural and physical training of employees stand out. And among other services, it already mentions the organisation of summer children's camps for employees' children. The letter ends with a heartfelt remembrance of the death of the former president, His Excellency Mr. Marqués de Urquijo. His "high prestige, history in this company and personal qualities of authority, gentlemanliness and friendliness made him equally respected and loved".