The MWC was a brutal hive of technological and telecos from all over the world … with America and Asia in a prominent place, something that results paradoxical and expected at the same time in an event organized in Barcelona: Error 404, Europe Not Found.
But in one of the Halls Yes there was European presence, because there There was the huge Spanish pavilion, that of Red.es, and in turn there was, in one of its fifty spaces, SPC (Smart Products Connection), an Alava technology that has turned the technological needs of the elderly into their small gold mine. And we were able to talk to his CEO, Teresa Acha-Forea, an old acquaintance of Xataka: A decade ago We interviewed her in her stage with Wikowhich was a mark of that same matrix.
Of telephone liberalization to leadership in a specialized niche
SPC’s story begins with The beginning of the process of liberalization of telecommunications At the end of the eighties, when Telefónica lost the monopoly of the sale of telephones. It was then that this company Alavesa jumped to start marketing landlines.
It looks like a gray and little activity sexy (And it is), but it was his germ. For years it was your main business (They still have a presence in him), But with the slow agony of the fixed this leg is more in the consulting of conference terminals for companies than in the sale of the telephone itself.
Red.es pavilion in the MWC 2025. In one of its fifty spaces was SPC. Image: Xataka.
A little after that was when the adventure that has taken them here began. “Twenty years ago we began to make adapted phones for blind and people with special needs“, explains Teresa during our interview at the Mobile World Congress 2025.” We also had a Portfolio of telephone numbers for seniors, with large, first fixed and then mobile keys. “
What began as a specialized line has led the company to a dominant position in Spain: “We have become the first Spanish telephone brand for seniors, we have 50% of that market,” says the directive.
The silent revolution: from 2g to 4g
While the technological world revolts around The latest ©SPC has demonstrated the ability to evolve without losing its essence. Its catalog has been growing with the decades, but always maintaining the focus on a type of accessible and easy -to -use devices.
That approach also has its own technological risks. In this case, a question of networks: “These devices are 2g, but you have to change to 4g by The blackouts that are going to be done. All these devices will stop working, so we decided to launch the catalog in 4G. ”What was cost savings because it made no sense to aim at ultra -granted speeds also finds its expiration date.
This technological change has meant a great change for the company: “We went from transmitting voice to transmit data. That makes a ‘silly’ device have some intelligence. With the 4G we saw that we could exchange data, that is, send orders.”
And that forced paradigm change led them to A much deeper change: the hardware for the service. Taking advantage of the 4G jump, SPC has developed a platform called SPC Carelaunched at the end of last year. “It is an app that is usually downloaded a responsible, a child,” explains the CEO.
“It allows to manage the entire device menu, contacts, volume, brightness … It also has functions for the child, such as locating the father’s mobile by GPS or seeing his SMS.” The latter, he points, not so much to invade his privacy and to prevent The frauds that have found in the SMS a great ally.
In it MWC 2025 The company presented new functions for this platform: “We have incorporated new actions, for example, a medication reminder. We have an agenda in which to schedule days and hours for a specific message to arrive, which we can write, and thus will come in a personalized way.”
The most interesting thing is how this reminder is delivered: “That message will not come as SMS, because they do not usually read them, but as a voice call.” A detail that demonstrates the company’s knowledge about the real needs of its target audience.
This evolution represents a paradigm change for SPC, as its directive acknowledges: “This is being a small great revolution for the company. We have gone from being a hardware company very specialized in the development of the PCBA with engineering in China, to manage applications and data.”
Between design and manufacturing
Although SPC is presented as a Spanish manufacturer, its productive model reflects the reality of the contemporary technology industry: Design in any country, manufacture in China. Nothing on the other Thursday, nothing we don’t know. However, the degree of involvement of the company in the development of its products varies quite according to the category. It is not a black or white.
“It depends on each category, we intervene more in the conceptualization or less,” explains Acha-Forea. “The person in charge is the one who has contact with the manufacturer of the Chipset. The manufacturer of Chipset Sells specific engineering that are the ones that develop the PCBA “.
In the most strategic products, the personalization level is very high: “In the tablets, we do everything with engineering in China. From speaking with engineering, and telling him that this is the PCBA, this is the type of plate, we want this type of battery here, this here, this here …”.
The CEO is clear on which products they have more intervention: “Tablets and smartphones for seniors are own molds, they are ours. When it is its own mold, it is its own PCBA and its own engineering.”
Current Catalog of SPC smartphones. Image: SPC.
At the opposite end are the smallest or generic products: “Some headphones … Well, you choose the headset and say, well, because I want you to change this, you change this welding, you do this, you do this to me … and that’s it. They are small changes on the base and already.”
Numbers and expansion
After more than 30 years in the market, SPC has become a company with 78 employees and a surprising international presence. “We are based in Lisbon, because we market Offline In Portugal, France and Spain. And in Shenzhen, “says CEO.
Company’s sales are led by their star products: “Top 1: The phones for the elderly. Then tablets, then fixed phones, then smartphones, then Wearables … And in the end the sound. “
The numbers are especially striking in their star category, which describes with surprising clarity: “We sell about 30,000 smartphones for higher a year, with an approximate average price of 139 euros. And telephones (not smartphones) for adults, with approximate price of 45 euros, we sell about 400,000 units.”
They are figures that Many niche manufacturers would envyespecially in a market as competitive as technological.
Far from complying with its current position, SPC has expansion plans. “We have open projects. The growth of the part retail In more European countries it is already underway. Italy and Germany. And the United Kingdom, where we are going to go with Amazon, “explains Acha-Forea.
The company is also exploring new institutional business roads: “The part of institutions and others, such as the social services of a municipality, residences … It is something we are seeing, because we now have the possibility since we have a product to offer,” he says in reference to that combination of hardware and service.
Another growth vector is in the business segment: “We want to enter the educational segment with interactive screens for a school or an office, which such types still cost more than 1,000 euros.”
And looking towards the farthest future, SPC already works on an energy efficiency project for households: “We have a project in which we are going to use the AI to control the households. You tell him what temperatures you want to have in each part of the day, and what you pay for the light. And based on that and how he sees that the house is heated or not based on time, orientation, solar penetration, etc., that gives you recommendations. We want something intelligent, not simply remote.”
Obsolescence and lessons learned
Spc’s trajectory has not been exempt from difficulties. An important example was the disappearance of the operating system Kaioswhich affected its devices for the elderly and the application canon In Spain: WhatsApp.
“With the disappearance of Kaios we had a problem. To users, with an update, WhatsApp stopped working. And we couldn’t do anything. It was the operating system, it is as if Google said that Android stopped working, “recalls Acha-Forea.
The situation caused a commercial problem: “The customers said that you in the box you put WhatsApp had, so you couldn’t sell it anymore.” Discomfort and bad rolls.
SPC managed to turn around the situation, not without sacrifices: “What we did was, through the Call Centerexplain why that had happened. And offer A ZEUSwhich is an adapted smartphone for adults, with a good discount, so that the client was happy. “
The success of SPC goes beyond commercial, in its category there is a purpose that combines business and social function: reduce the digital divide for a particularly vulnerable population segment in the face of technological advances.
In a world where smartphones are increasingly complex and expensive, SPC maintains Affordable and easy -to -use devices, far from the lane that dominates the combo of Chinese and Samsung brands. Their phones for older ones allow people with limited economic resources or very basic digital skills to also enjoy modern connectivity.
This social vision, combined with the knowledge of the local market and a prudent growth strategy, has allowed SPC not only to survive, but to prosper in a sector dominated by multinational giants.
The future: between hardware and services
The evolution of SPC reflects the transformations of the technological sector. If in the beginning the company focused exclusively on the hardware, today its pivota strategy towards services and integral solutions.
The SPC Care platform represents this new address, combining physical devices with cloud applications and services. “We have gone from developing hardware to managing applications, data“Acha-Forea points out.
This change of approach is reconfiguring the entire structure of the company, which has already incorporated software developers and plans to set up an engineering in China specifically for this purpose: “We are going to set up an engineering in China, because to talk to chip manufacturers you have to talk Chinese,” explains the CEO pragmatically.
In a technological landscape where obsolescence is the norm and companies appear and disappear at the dizzying pace, SPC has demonstrated adaptation capacity, perhaps that other actors with the greatest name did not have.
Its history is also a reminder that even in the most competitive and globalized sectors There is still space for companies with local roots. Especially if they know how to identify specific needs and respond to them with accessible and functional products.
Outstanding image | Xataka
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings