We open our first shareholder service office

The number of shareholders in these years increased by leaps and bounds, thanks to the issue of shares, the famous 'Matildes', the name given to the shares in the successful advertising campaign starring José Luis López Vázquez. Telefónica's successive capital increases in those years (1965-1973) more than quadrupled its share capital and also the number of minority shareholders, which was already around 350,000. It is what some called the first action of "popular capitalism" in a Spain that until then had been alienated from the stock market. We therefore decided to open the first shareholder office. The main task was to give advice, in particular on possible income tax relief for investment in securities, and also on the possible use of different credit lines offered by the savings banks. All this was part of a state economic policy aimed at protecting and stimulating savings.

Buitrago, our great satellite communications centre

Satellite communications was a major innovation of this decade. Telefónica had begun to install satellite earth stations, first in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria) in 1966 to support the Apollo mission and then in 1967, we installed in Buitrago de Lozoya, (Madrid), the first proper national telecommunications service. It was installed under a contract signed with NASA that year and was one of five satellite communication stations in Europe. It was called Buitrago I, used INTELSAT satellites over the Atlantic and served to carry telephone, telegraph and television traffic with the American continent. Later we would install other stations that would turn Buitrago into a great communications centre where telephone communications with countries all over the world were carried out. From here, the signal of the Spanish television channels was also carried to the Canary Islands and events such as the 1982 World Cup, the 1992 Olympic Games and the Seville Expo 92 were broadcast to the world.