As part of Telefónica’s centenary in 2024, through twelve different publications – known as Network notebooks – we have been able to delve into some key technological issues throughout the century of the company’s history.
In these dozen articles, knowledge and technological talent are made available to all audiences so that, from the hand of the leading experts in these topics, we can learn about the keys to technologies of the past, present and future.
5G, digitalization, data networks or aerial cables explained by prestigious historical “telephonists” who have made this company an undeniable reference in innovation.
Julio Linares: 100 years of history in Telefónica’s networks.
“In this article, Julio Linares explains the 100 years of history in the company’s networks.
In this review, Linares explains that the single greatest constant in history is that everything changes and how in the century of Telefónica’s history, transformation and anticipation with constant changes have required the company to constantly adapt.
In this interesting document, the executive highlights the fact that being able to live a fully digital life as we do today would be impossible without the previous technological changes. Changes that make it possible to be permanently connected.
Throughout the pages of this article, Linares breaks down the main features of different services such as call shops, automation and fiber optics that have helped Telefónica become the company we all know today.
Carlos Calvo: telephone service automation
With a background of more than three decades in Telefónica, Carlos Calvo talks about the automation of telephone service. A process that has a curious precedent in the world of funeral homes in Kansas City at the end of the 19th century…
The author places the process of automation of manual exchanges as one of the most important milestones for telecommunications in general and for Telefónica in particular.
In 1915, the transition began from manual switching by people to switching carried out by electromechanical elements that developed autonomous interconnections without human participation. An innovation that arrived in Spain through Telefónica in 1926 with a Rotary switchboard in Santander.
Carbajo and Barahona: transmission and switching digitization
José Carlos Carbajo and Javier Barahona analyze the digitization of transmission and switching. The appearance in the 80s of technologies such as microprocessors and circuits with high degree of integration (LSI) caused changes such as the incorporation of processors in switching centers and digital transmission mechanisms, something that impacted the design of networks.
These technologies had a positive influence on the design of telephone networks, contributing to their evolution, offering new services such as digitization or the incorporation of ISDN.
Vela and San Miguel: international networks
José Ramón Vela and Vicente San Miguel develop in their article how, in the field of international networks, Telefónica became one of the pioneering companies in transnational satellite and submarine cable projects.
Despite the various barriers they had to face, experience has shown that the strategy of developing networks and services to the maximum according to the capabilities offered by technological evolution was the right one.
Lada: the first mobile services
Luis Lada, who was, among other things, president of Telefónica Móviles and Telefónica España, details in his network notebook the deployment of the first mobile services.
In the 1970s, Telefónica was already developing pioneering mobile telephony services (such as the TAV or the pager), which led to the current 5G, demonstrating the pioneering nature of the company by having one of the first mobile networks in the world.
Gamo: data networks
José Luis Gamo describes the evolution of Telefónica’s data networks, also a world pioneer in this area due to the needs of the Spanish banking sector and the company’s commitment to new technologies.
With the technological innovations that have been incorporated, the century-old company has continued to evolve, just as it did when in the 1970s it began to convert its analog networks – which served only to carry voice – into data networks that carry “packets” of bits.
Figueroa: a platform company
Jesús Figueroa explains how Telefónica became a platform company and what services the company had to develop to make the transition from transmitting voice to transmitting data, although large data users – such as banks – had independent networks that allowed their computers to interconnect with each other, with data centers or with other headquarters.
A series of services that paved the way for the company to offer the first Internet Access Service in 1995, known as InfoVía, which was improved in 1999 with InfoVía Plus and extended to the ADSL Line in 2001.
Lluch: evolution of mobile data
The use of mobile data on our devices is the order of the day. However, it is a relatively recent phenomenon. Cayetano Lluch brings us closer to the evolution of mobile data in this network notebook.
Symbols that appeared on the mobile screen (such as 3G, H, H+, 4G, G or E) indicated the coverage of networks of different technology, mostly developed to transmit data, and whose evolution has made download times almost imperceptible.
Flórez: IP networks
Pedro Flórez illustrates how IP (Internet Protocol) networks have become the data traffic transport platform for all services in the last quarter of a century.
The development of these networks is a new example of Telefónica’s technological leadership, since the operator foresaw that this technology would be used to implement new Internet accesses, the new television over copper loops, corporate networks and telephony itself.
Guillén: fiber
Federico José Guillén focuses his network notebook on fiber, a term that, as he explains, has become completely common and frequent in our conversations.
Cinema or series, streaming music, videoconferences, games or business, everything has changed thanks to this technology, which not only has a past and a present, but also a future that the author describes as “the most exciting part of this technology”.
Correa and Ledesma: switching off the copper network
The shutdown of the copper network is the focus of the penultimate of these technological monographs called Network Notebooks. On this occasion, written by José Luis Correa and Pablo Ledesma, they explain how Telefónica took the decision in 2008 to deploy a new network that has left Spain in a historic place as the first telecommunications company to shut down its old copper network.
How this network is replaced by fiber optics, the subject of the previous network notebook, and the potential of this change at all levels (less energy for its operation, higher speed, savings in light or with far fewer breakdowns) has meant a great legacy of different generations of professionals.
Carbajo: open and softwarized networks
Cayetano Carbajo is the author of the twelfth and last in this series of technological articles, focusing in his case on open and softwarized networks. The fact that networks make unstoppable use of technological advances calls for more efficient requirements that respond quickly to the changes that new services require.
These networks will evolve and, in the author’s opinion, will have as their “most disruptive feature, in terms of their capacity to provide new services, (…) the incorporation of computing, storage and artificial intelligence capabilities into networks to be able to provide services not only based on connectivity but also combining computing, storage and AI in a single service offered by the networks”.
Network Notebooks: technology explained by Telefónica experts
As we mentioned at the beginning of this summary article, the Network Notebooks are a magnificent compilation of articles with which to understand and learn how technology and innovation have been inherent to the evolution of Telefónica in its now century-long history.
Therefore, we encourage you to consult these interesting documents and we remind you where you can access all of them on the Network notebooks tag.
