What Telefónica is and why it is a Spanish company
The group is headed by Telefónica, S.A., a company incorporated in Madrid with its registered office at Gran Vía 28. Its Spanish tax identification number is A28015865. The group also encompasses subsidiaries and investees; consolidated figures therefore describe more than the parent company alone or the business in Spain.
Telefónica: legal notice · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 18
The company provides fixed and mobile connectivity, entertainment and home services, as well as digital solutions for businesses and public bodies. Its 2025 report identifies four main markets: Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom. This international footprint coexists with a Spanish parent company.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 18
From CTNE to an international operator
The company was incorporated on 19 April 1924 as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, with ITT as a shareholder. In 1945, the Spanish state acquired 79.6% of the capital. Subsequent expansion introduced data services and mobile communications; the company entered Chile and Argentina in 1990 and launched digital mobile services under Movistar in 1994.
Telefónica: corporate history · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 18
Privatisation involved several steps: the February 1997 public offering disposed of the principal state holding, followed in March 1999 by a residual 0.20% associated with the offering’s loyalty mechanism. The acquisition of O2 in 2006 later strengthened the European business, while taking control of Vivo in 2010 reinforced Brazil’s role.
SEPI: privatisation of Telefónica · Telefónica: corporate history
Ownership and governance: a listed company with several significant shareholders
Telefónica is a listed company with institutional and individual shareholders. SEPI announced that it had reached a 10% holding in May 2024; the 2025 accounts report the same percentage at year-end. The related-party note also identifies BBVA, CriteriaCaixa and Green Bridge Investment Company/STC Group among shareholders represented on the board during 2025.
SEPI: 10% stake, 20 May 2024 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 63
On the significant-shareholdings page consulted in November 2026, Telefónica states that no individual or legal entity exercises or could exercise control over the company under the legal definition specified there. Public ownership of a stake therefore does not make it a wholly state-controlled subsidiary.
How the business generates revenue and organises services
The business combines connectivity contracts with services delivered through those networks. Consumer services include telephony, broadband, television and home services; organisational customers buy communications, cloud, cybersecurity, internet of things, artificial intelligence and professional services. The group also supplies wholesale capacity and services to other operators.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 18
This combination requires infrastructure investment and continuous service capability, alongside commercial, technology and support teams. Businesses do not all enter the accounts in the same way: the 50% holding in VMED O2 UK Limited is equity-accounted. Its sales are therefore not added in full to Telefónica’s consolidated revenue.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 54
Telefónica, Movistar, O2 and Vivo
Telefónica is the corporate and institutional brand. Movistar, O2 and Vivo are commercial brands with different geographical footprints; Vivo identifies the Brazilian business, while O2 is part of the European operation. In Spain, the company also uses Telefónica Empresas for business customers. A commercial brand and a legal entity are distinct: the visible brand alone does not identify the contracting company or employer.
Markets and changes in reporting scope
Spain, Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom are the focus described in the group’s 2025 accounts. During that year it sold businesses in Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and Ecuador. The accounts reclassify several Spanish-speaking Latin American operations as discontinued; Colombia is also in that category, although its sale closed in February 2026. The Chilean business was transferred in February 2026 as well.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 14 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 37
The reorganisation announced on 30 September 2026 integrated Spanish support functions into corporate areas and distinguished Spanish consumer, business and wholesale units. This organisational update occurred after the financial year-end and does not retrospectively alter 2025 revenue.
What the 2025 consolidated figures show
Between 1 January and 31 December 2025, the group recorded EUR 35,120 million in sales and services from continuing operations, compared with a restated EUR 35,671 million for 2024. Operating profit was EUR 1,319 million. The result attributable to the parent company’s shareholders was a EUR 4,318 million loss: EUR 2,049 million from continuing operations and EUR 2,269 million from discontinued operations.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 14
The year-end workforce was 82,655 people in fully consolidated companies. Of these, 77,252 belonged to continuing operations and 5,403 to discontinued operations. Average annual headcount was 87,607, including employees of sold subsidiaries up to their disposal dates. This measure is not interchangeable with year-end headcount or the workforce of Telefónica Spain.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 130
Updated leadership and organisation
In November 2026, Marc Murtra is listed as Chairman & CEO and Emilio Gayo as Chief Operating Officer on the official English website. Murtra became executive chairman in January 2025, and Gayo joined the board in March that year. The Spanish website calls their roles presidente ejecutivo and consejero delegado respectively; retaining the company’s official terminology helps comparisons across languages.
Telefónica: executive team · Telefónica: Marc Murtra, Chairman & CEO · Telefónica: Emilio Gayo, Chief Operating Officer
The September 2026 Spanish reorganisation placed Spain’s B2B, B2C, wholesale and technology and information units, together with Germany, Brazil and the United Kingdom, under Gayo’s direct reporting line. Shared support functions are intended to simplify the structure; the announcement documents an organisational decision, rather than measured savings already achieved.
Network transformation as industrial change
Replacing copper with fibre is a tangible example of technological transformation. Spain’s CNMC dated the closure of the last 661 copper exchanges to 27 May 2025. The process combines customer migration, equipment shutdown and changes in network maintenance. The completion date distinguishes earlier announcements from actual implementation.
CNMC: closure of the last copper exchanges, 27 May 2025
The 2025 report also describes mobile-network modernisation, virtualisation and energy optimisation. Technological progress changes the materials removed and the skills required to operate infrastructure; it does not in itself remove occupational prevention or waste-management responsibilities.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 306 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 327
Occupational safety, health and the right to disconnect
The corporate safety, health and wellbeing rules establish a preventive framework. In 2025, Telefónica reported ongoing training, health campaigns, psychosocial support and oversight through committees and audits. A health and safety management system covered 96% of employees. This measures coverage; it does not establish universal ISO 45001 certification.
Telefónica: occupational safety, health and wellbeing policy · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 336 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 341
The group reported 538 recordable occupational accidents and a rate of 3.18 per million hours worked, compared with 720 and 3.61 in 2024. The report itself attributes the fall in accident numbers mainly to disposals in Spanish-speaking Latin America. It also reports zero work-related deaths among employees and zero among other workers on company premises; the latter scope does not cover the entire worldwide supply chain.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 341
In Spain, the third collective agreement published in 2024 includes a specific disconnection agreement: avoid requiring replies outside working hours, plan meetings around rest periods and train teams. Exceptions cover urgent situations and paid on-call duties. Implementation requires organising work, as well as communicating a policy.
Supplier prevention: assessment and corrective action
The report describes two audit programmes: Allies, focused on service suppliers with higher sustainability risks, and JAC, targeting direct and indirect manufacturers, mainly in Asia. The process combines risk analysis, external assessment, audits and improvement plans. These reviews cover social, environmental and ethical matters; they are not exclusively occupational safety inspections.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 345 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 346
One non-conformity example published in 2025 concerns an office of approximately 100 m² with 25 workers and only one emergency exit. The stated corrective action is to provide at least two exits in accordance with applicable requirements. The report also describes overtime controls. These are examples of findings and corrective measures; the supplier is not identified, and the account does not establish that every case had been closed.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 347
Energy, equipment and waste
According to the report, renewable energy supplied 93% of electricity consumed at the company’s own facilities in 2025. This does not mean that 93% of all energy used by the group or its suppliers was renewable. The plan combines on-site generation, guarantees of origin and long-term electricity purchase agreements.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 306
The company recorded 41,664 tonnes of waste, with 94% of waste generated recycled. Reuse is counted separately because it extends equipment life. Network maintenance and transformation generate cables and electronic equipment, linking circularity directly to infrastructure operation and dismantling.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 327
Challenges that help explain the company
The group’s adaptation combines disposals, technological renewal and workforce reorganisation. The 2025 report records reorganisation agreements in Spanish companies scheduled for implementation in 2026, with different terms for different employee groups and voluntary participation as the priority criterion. These arrangements should not be presented as identical across the international workforce.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 333
Assessing its development requires three distinctions: continuing-operation revenue versus the total result; employees versus supplier workers; and preventive commitments versus measured outcomes. A reduction in accidents at a group disposing of subsidiaries requires reading incident counts, rates and reporting scope together. This avoids automatically attributing the entire change to improved prevention.
Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 14 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 130 · Telefónica: consolidated annual accounts and management report 2025 · PDF 341
Frequently asked questions
Are Telefónica and Movistar the same company?
Telefónica is the group’s parent company and corporate brand; Movistar is one of its commercial brands. The legal entity named in a contract determines which company is responsible for it. [1] · [2]
What was Telefónica’s revenue in 2025?
The group reported EUR 35,120 million in sales and services from continuing operations for calendar year 2025. This is not Spain-only revenue and does not include all Virgin Media O2 sales. [1]
How many employees did Telefónica have at the end of 2025?
82,655 people in fully consolidated companies: 77,252 in continuing operations and 5,403 in discontinued operations. Average annual headcount was 87,607. [1]
What public evidence supports its occupational prevention practices?
The 2025 report publishes management-system coverage, accident counts and rates, as well as supplier audits and measures. The Spanish agreement specifies the right to disconnect. Coverage of 96% does not establish universal certification or an absence of accidents. [1] · [2]
