Barcelona will now host the Spanish Authority that regulates the telecommunications market

Barcelona (ACN).- A small step towards decentralisation has been achieved today in Spain. The first regulatory body located outside of Madrid has begun functioning from Barcelona. The Authority regulating the Telecommunications Market (CMT), which is responsible for phone, cell networks, Internet, TV and radio spectrums, now has its headquarters in Barcelona. The new building was unveiled today in Barcelona’s technological neighbourhood, the 22@, in the former industrial heart of the Catalan capital, the Poblenou district.

The fancy building on Bolivia Street was unveiled by the Catalan President, José Montilla, the Spanish Minister for Industry, Miguel Sebastián, the Catalan Minister for Culture and Media, Joan Manuel Tresserras, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu. The CMT has been in the Catalan capital since 2005, but in a rented, provisional location.

The decision was made to move the CMT out of Madrid in 2004 by an agreement between the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Catalan President at the time, Pasqual Maragall. The agreement was part of the initial Zapatero wager for “a plural Spain”. However, Zapatero’s priority for decentralisation and the recognition Spain’s plurality, assimilating Spain into a truly federal country, seems to have been put aside since the controversial debate on the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. However, the moving of the seat was decided on before this change in Zapatero’s priorities. Today’s act may have been one of the last bits untied to that period.