Communications in Spain
Home Telephones
Telefonica is the national Spanish telephone company, similar to BT in the UK and is responsible for providing the land line telephone services in Spain.
Getting a telephone installed in Spain requires you to visit a local office of Telefonica to make your application. You will find an office in most towns. Normally, the process is reasonably quick although it can take some time if the property you purchased is on an urbanisation that has still to be finished.
Telefonica have an English-language call service open for enquiries between 10:00 and 18:00 Monday to Friday or you can visit Telefonica's English website on http://www.telefonicainenglish.com for more information.
Mobile Telephones
The mobile telephone services in Spain are no different than those in the UK. There are three main operators, Movistar (Telefonica), Vodafone ES or Orange ES (formerly Amena). All of the service operators provide a full pay as you go service or for people living in Spain, contract services if preferred.
As with the UK, there are many different plans available and it pays to compare before signing up. Some offer the latest technology phones at very cheap prices but you will probably pay more in call changes.
If you have a UK mobile telephone you can use it in Spain providing it is enabled for international roaming. Your UK service provider can do this for you. It is also possible to put a Spanish SIM card in most UK mobile phones as well. If you are visiting, this is useful as a Spanish pay as you go SIM card will give cheaper calls than the UK international roaming facility. You must make sure however that your mobile phone is not locked by your UK service provider to prevent switching SIM cards.
Internet
Broadband is widely available on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida and is normally provided over the same wires provided by Telefonica for the telephone service. Increasingly popular however are broadband (and telephone) services provided over satellite and other wireless means.
If you are coming out on holiday, you'll find many places that offer internet services so you can always access the internet and web based email to stay in touch.
Television and Radio
If you are worried about missing your favourite soap or want to keep up to date with the latest news whilst in Spain, don't worry. There are many television service providers on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida offering a full range of English television services.
Most services will provide you with a range of TV stations including BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, Five, Sky News, Sky sports, Sky movies and many more (including popular Spanish stations). In addition, English radio stations are available, both local ones and the UK stations such as Virgin, Radio 1, Capital and Classic FM.
Newspapers
If you don´t want to watch TV to keep up with the news then there are always newspapers.
For local news, the Costa Blanca News can be purchased in a number of the local shops. In addition, there are three popular free newspapers (Coastrider, The Leader and Round Town News) that you can pick up in bars, restaurants, English supermarkets and many other outlets. All will provide you with the local news and information on what's happening in the area.
For national news, you can also find your favourite daily on the shelves in the larger newsagents.
