Retevisión
Encyclopedia
Retevisión is a Spanish
telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Abertis
.
, a division of the national public Radiotelevisión Española. Its original mission was to provide transportation for the television and radio signals throughout Spain.
In 1996 the government of the People's Party
decided to liberalise the Spanish market, and a license was granted to Retevision.
In 1997 it was decided to move the company headquarters from Madrid
to Barcelona
. That same year Retevision was acquired by Telecom Italia
and the Spanish electricity utilities Endesa
and Union Fenosa
. The commercial launch occurred in January 1998.
The company was operating without a network, and users of Telefónica
that were Retevision subscribers needed to prepend the prefix 050, which was later replaced by 1050, to the number in order to dial to route calls to Retevision.
At first, customers could only call other provinces with Retevision. With the liberalisation of the local loop
, in September 1998 Retevision customers could make local calls.
That same year, Retevisión bought the pioneers of the Internet in Spain, Servicom and RedesTB and launched their own internet service provider
(ISP) under the brand iddeo.
In June 1998 the company obtained a license for mobile telephony
, and began operations in 1999 under the brand name Amena
through its subsidiary Retevisión Móvil.
Throughout 1999 it also launched data services over IP for enterprises (VPN networking sites), and direct voice and data by radio link, although the latter services had little success.
In summer 2000, iddeo launched the ADSL service for businesses.
In Basque
region, Euskaltel
retained its exclusivity versus Retevision therefore fixed telephony and the transmission of radio and television was performed by Euskaltel.
The brand Retevision as a telephony operator was abandoned in 2002 in favor of the new name Auna
, a merger between Retevision and the cable operator AunaCable
(both companies being part of Grupo Auna
).
Retevision, as transmitters of signals from radio and television, was sold by Grupo Auna, retaining its name and brand.
In 2005, Auna was absorbed by the operator ONO
in 2005.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Abertis
Abertis
Abertis Infraestructuras, S.A. is a Spanish corporation. The company runs 6,713 kilometres of motorways in Europe and operates more than a dozen airports in cities including London, Stockholm and Orlando...
.
History
Retevision was born in 1989 as a public companyPublic company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
, a division of the national public Radiotelevisión Española. Its original mission was to provide transportation for the television and radio signals throughout Spain.
In 1996 the government of the People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
decided to liberalise the Spanish market, and a license was granted to Retevision.
In 1997 it was decided to move the company headquarters from Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. That same year Retevision was acquired by Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...
and the Spanish electricity utilities Endesa
Endesa (Spain)
Endesa, S.A. is the largest electric utility company in Spain. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, has 10 million customers in Spain, with domestic annual generation of over 97,600 GWh from nuclear, fossil-fueled, hydroelectric, and renewable resource power...
and Union Fenosa
Unión Fenosa
Unión Fenosa, S.A., is a large Spanish company dedicated to the production and distribution to end users of gas and electricity. It has installed capacity of 11,120 megawatts of power and 8.9 million customers. The headquarters are in Madrid and the chairman is Pedro López Jiménez...
. The commercial launch occurred in January 1998.
The company was operating without a network, and users of Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
that were Retevision subscribers needed to prepend the prefix 050, which was later replaced by 1050, to the number in order to dial to route calls to Retevision.
At first, customers could only call other provinces with Retevision. With the liberalisation of the local loop
Local loop
In telephony, the local loop is the physical link or circuit that connects from the demarcation point of the customer premises to the edge of the carrier or telecommunications service provider's network...
, in September 1998 Retevision customers could make local calls.
That same year, Retevisión bought the pioneers of the Internet in Spain, Servicom and RedesTB and launched their own internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP) under the brand iddeo.
In June 1998 the company obtained a license for mobile telephony
Mobile telephony
Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations , whereas satellite phones connect to orbiting satellites...
, and began operations in 1999 under the brand name Amena
Amena
France Telecom España S.A., more commonly known by its trade name of Orange España, is a mobile network operator in Spain. It was previously known as Amena until 2005, when it was bought by France Télécom...
through its subsidiary Retevisión Móvil.
Throughout 1999 it also launched data services over IP for enterprises (VPN networking sites), and direct voice and data by radio link, although the latter services had little success.
In summer 2000, iddeo launched the ADSL service for businesses.
In Basque
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
region, Euskaltel
Euskaltel
Euskaltel, S.A. is a telecommunications company based in the Spanish autonomous community Basque Country, with its headquarters in Derio . Its name literally translates into English as "Basque-Tel"...
retained its exclusivity versus Retevision therefore fixed telephony and the transmission of radio and television was performed by Euskaltel.
The brand Retevision as a telephony operator was abandoned in 2002 in favor of the new name Auna
Auna
Auna was a telecommunications company that emerged from the absorption of AunaCable into Retevisión on October 1, 2002.Auna offered cable services, telephony and ADSL, and became part of Grupo Auna.Auna was later absorbed by the operator ONO in 2005....
, a merger between Retevision and the cable operator AunaCable
AunaCable
AunaCable was a cable television, telephone and Internet product in 2002 from the merger of several regional Spanish carriers, including Madritel, Catalan Menta, the Andalusian Supercable, the Aragonese Aragón de Cable and Canarias Telecom....
(both companies being part of Grupo Auna
Grupo Auna
Grupo Auna was a telecommunications company that emerged from the former Retevisión, which was one of the two companies that were created in Spain in 1996 after the liberalization of telecommunications....
).
Retevision, as transmitters of signals from radio and television, was sold by Grupo Auna, retaining its name and brand.
In 2005, Auna was absorbed by the operator ONO
ONO (Spain)
ONO is a Spanish broadband communication and entertainment company, delivering integrated telephone, television and Internet services to its residential customers. In this segment, it has 3.7 million services contracted and over six million users....
in 2005.