The current decade is, of course, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences it generated at all levels.
In the technological sphere, the advance of generative AI, with Chat GPT as its greatest exponent, is undoubtedly one of the most noteworthy issues.
2020: the time to step up to the plate
As we mentioned in the introduction, the year 2020 marked a before and after for a generation, with an economic, social and especially health crisis that paralysed the entire planet.
However, digital life made it possible to mitigate the harsh consequences of this crisis and telecommunications unintentionally claimed its place as one of the backbones of society.
As we recall on our centenary website, Telefónica boosted the pride of belonging of the entire workforce thanks to making the world more human by connecting people’s lives in really complicated times. Some of the company’s initiatives served to:
- Provide the best connectivity.
- Give away data and content and open up training platforms for them to use.
- Guarantee the liquidity of its suppliers.
- Make everything available to the authorities, from digitising field hospitals in a few hours to bringing in medical equipment from China.
- Donate mobile phone lines or tablets and help emergency services.
Also in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Telefónica remotely closed the creation of a 50/50 joint venture between Virgin Media and O2 to give birth to the UK’s strongest integrated provider.
2021: Europe’s largest Innovation and Talent Hub is born
After several years with the same logo (unchanged since 2010 and almost unchanged since 1998), Telefónica revamped its image with a new logo inspired by what had been its 1984 image with five spheres corresponding to the same number of company pillars: telecommunications, technology, talent, transcendence and transformation.
On the day of this year’s General Shareholders’ Meeting, the company surprised the world with the change and from that very day began the replacement on all physical and digital media.
As part of EnlightED 2021, the creation of the largest Innovation and Talent Hub in Europe was announced, located in the Telefónica District, with the idea of training 100,000 people a year in digital skills and bringing together all the company’s initiatives related to e-learning, technology, transcendence and transformation.
2022: farewell to the booths…
In this year, the booths ceased to be considered a “universal service” in Spain, so Telefónica began to dismantle the 15,000 that remained, although there had been almost 100,000 of them.
With them went many secrets, laughter, tears and farewells with devices that became a fundamental part of the urban landscape, although it is true that there is an entire generation that may not have seen any of them in use.
As a sign of the changing times, Telefónica also landed in the metaverse at the MWC in 2022. In fact, that same year the Telefónica Metaverse Day was held in the Telefónica District.
2023: … and hello to La Cabina
This booth has nothing to do with José Luis López Vázquez (or Matilde), but La Cabina is located in Distrito Telefónica and forms part of the Innovation and Talent Hub, a centre of technological inspiration to drive the digital transformation of companies, regardless of their size, and of the Public Administration in more than 2,200 square metres and with 200 products and solutions.
2023 also saw the arrival of a top ambassador, Pau Gasol. The basketball legend and Telefónica share values and enthusiasm and have been collaborating since then in different areas such as the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits and support for Movistar Plus+ sports commentators.
2024: We are 100 years old!!!
We are still writing this page of our history with a date marked in blue on the calendar: 19 April, the day we turn 100 years old.
We encourage you to follow all the activity related to the centenary, whether on our corporate website, on the centenary website or on social networks.
2020s images
Telefónica Centenary
Don’t miss all the information about Telefónica’s history on our centenary website, https:///www.telefonica100.com/.
You can also take a closer look at the series by decade that we are publishing on our blog. Don’t miss what happened in the previous decade, the 2010s.
