Telecommunications and spillovers. Telephone equipment industry in Spain between the captive market and liberalization, 1953-1963

Abstract

This article brings us closer to the telecommunicatiions industry in Spain -an almost unknown sector-, at a crucial moment in its development, leading to controversy about the impacto of multinationals in host countries. in this sense, it asks whether the special condicions of the Spanis (CNTE) and privilege of supplying of the industrial Standard Eléctrica S.A (SESA), a subsidiary of the multinational International Telephone and Telegraph- generated spillover effects. As for his organization, the article analyzes the market structure on telecommunications equipment, setting quantitative and qualitative demand through the investment of CTNE and finally, the redesign of the market with the start of the liberalization of the telephone equipment industry in Spain. The period analyzed is limited bt the renewal of the supply contract CTNE-SERSA and the shift in Spanish economic policy with the start of development plans. The findings support some of the lines of research and certify the existence of verical and horizontal spillovers by mobilizing resources, promoting intermediate goods industries and, finally, stimulating new business to manufacture telecommunicacions equipment. The arguments are founded substantially on primary sources, without dishonour of the secondary.