The Guipúzcoa network is integrated into that of CTNE

A bit of context: The Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE) took over the country's entire telephone system during the second half of the 1920s, except for the province of Guipúzcoa and the city of San Sebastián. These concessions had no expiry date. Both continued to operate independently. However, in 1949 the interurban network in the province of Guipúzcoa was integrated into Telefónica and shortly afterwards, in 1953, it became the first provincial automatic network in Spain. However, the city of San Sebastian remained an independent network for almost two more decades. This exception is due to the fact that it was the town where the royal family spent long summer periods (in the 1920s) and where Alfonso XIII signed most of the legislation presented by the government every year. The high quality of the telephone service prolonged this situation for years until, in 1970, the local operator, overwhelmed by a waiting list of more than 13,000 telephones, decided to give up the concession. A year later, in 1971, it made the final move to CTNE, both in terms of networks and employees.

1949, record number of telephones installed

The demand for telephone service continues to increase steadily, as do "the worldwide difficulties that have been and continue to be affecting Spain and our Company", as the chairman, José Navarro Reverter y Gomis, explains in this year's annual report, which makes it difficult to obtain the essential material for the works and installations. Even so, CTNE is doing its best, and is moving as fast as possible to meet outstanding service requests. Thus, at the end of 1949, 54,077 new telephone lines were registered, the highest number the company has had since its creation, although the waiting list remains unchanged from the previous year due to the exponential increase in demand, which continues to be more than 145,700.

Wholesale food for our employees

One thing that has characterised Telefónica over time is its eagerness not only to look after its customers, but also its employees, and in a comprehensive way, providing them with a range of benefits. Here is a good example, in 1949 one of the advantages of being 'telephonic' is being able to buy food at good prices. The chairman states in his letter to shareholders that, according to a Procurement Circular, "we have procured large quantities of foodstuffs in order to make them available to our staff at excellent economic conditions".