It’s little surprise that Spain’s industry minister should emphasise the Spanishness of Telefónica. On Tuesday, Miguel Sebastián said the important point to take from the telecoms group’s radical reorganisation was that its headquarters would stay in Spain. So far, so predictable.
What’s more extraordinary is how calmly Spanish politicians seem to be handling news that the national champion is, in the FT’s words, “to axe its Spanish division as a standalone business”. Mr Sebastián actually went on to point out that the fact that Telefónica’s newly created digital division would be based in London was a sign that the telecoms group is ever more global.
This is hardly the phlegmatic reaction you’d expect from the minister’s counterparts in Britain or France. Imagine the fuss, for example, if BT proposed such an obvious reduction in its Britishness, or if France Telecom suddenly decided to relocate 2,500 staff across la Manche.
In part this is a tribute to the pragmatism of the Spanish company’s board: Telefónica’s Spanish business is losing revenues and, as a consequence, cutting staff; O2, the UK arm bought in 2006, already accounts for most of the European revenues; digital and Latin American operations show more promise than its domestic unit. The company’s outward-looking attitude should be applauded – provided the group can avoid the peril of underinvestment identified by the Lex column. Patriotic Spaniards may in any case reason that the board still controls everything from Spain. But if you think of the hoops that BA went through to avoid being reclassified as Spanish after its merger with Iberia, it’s evident that not everybody takes such a relaxed attitude when corporate national identity is at stake.
