| Name | INFOPYME various payphones |
| Date | 2000 |
| Manufacturer | Amper-Elasa in Zaragoza for Telefónica Amper and later Infopyme Comunicaciones Large collaboration with Siemens (common models) |
| Link to Infopyme Comunicaciones website | https://www.infopyme.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=19&Itemid=155 |
Above- the various models currently on the website. Note that the INFOPYME-tpi2 is the same as the PR-05S1 Siemens MP-10 Plastic (Yellow).
Development of the Teléfono público INFOPYME
| The history of Infopyme Comunicaciones is somewhat obscure because the company has published relatively little detailed historical material. However, by combining company information with the known history of Spanish public telephony, a fairly clear picture emerges. Infopyme is a Spanish telecommunications manufacturer based in Zuera, near Zaragoza. The company specialises in the design, manufacture, assembly, repair and remote management of public telephones and related telecommunications equipment. It describes itself as a world leader in public telephony and supplies operators in Europe, North America and Latin America. According to company records, Infopyme was established as part of the Grupo Paz Salinas group and developed manufacturing facilities capable of producing complete public telephones, electronic assemblies, coin validators, card readers, management systems and spare parts. Its engineering staff reportedly included personnel with experience from major multinational public telecommunications firms. Relationship with Amper Amper was one of Spain’s major telecommunications manufacturers, founded in 1956 and long associated with Telefónica. During the 1980s and 1990s it produced several well-known public telephone models including the TEPROM, X1 and X2 families. The evidence strongly suggests that Infopyme became the successor manufacturer and maintainer of many Amper-designed public telephone platforms rather than merely producing unrelated products. Several clues point to this: Infopyme’s later product range includes telephones that are visually and mechanically very similar to Amper’s X1/X2 Multi Purpose Payphone (MPP) family. Infopyme today manufactures spare parts compatible with many older Spanish public telephones and operates management systems descended from earlier Telefónica-era platforms. The Telstra Smart Payphone used in Australia is widely regarded by collectors and telecommunications historians as deriving from the Amper MPP platform, while later production and support appear to have been handled by Infopyme. This suggests a transfer of manufacturing responsibility or intellectual property at some stage. However, I have not found a published source explicitly stating that Infopyme purchased Amper’s payphone division or formally acquired the rights to the X1/X2 models. The available evidence indicates continuity of manufacture and support, but the exact corporate arrangement remains unclear. Relationship with Siemens The connection with Siemens appears to have been different. Spain used a number of Siemens public telephone technologies through subsidiaries and local partnerships, including Siemens Elasa equipment. During the smart-payphone era, Telefónica networks contained equipment from multiple suppliers including Amper, Siemens and Alcatel. Infopyme appears to have acted primarily as a manufacturer, integrator and support company for public telephone systems rather than as a Siemens subsidiary. Some later Infopyme products incorporated Siemens smartcard technologies and compatible telecommunications components, but there is no evidence that Siemens owned or controlled Infopyme. Instead, they seem to have operated as technology partners within the broader Telefónica public-telephony ecosystem. Probable Timeline Period Development 1950s–1980s Amper becomes a major Telefónica supplier and develops public telephones. Late 1980s Amper releases TEPROM and later smart-payphone systems. 1990s Amper develops the X1/X2 Multi Purpose Payphone platform used internationally. Late 1990s–2000s Infopyme emerges as a specialist public-telephony manufacturer and support company. 2000s onward Infopyme manufactures, customises, repairs and exports payphones worldwide, including equipment descended from earlier Telefónica/Amper designs. Present Infopyme remains one of the last specialist public-payphone manufacturers still actively advertising new production and spare parts. My assessment is that Infopyme did not simply invent an entirely new product line. The available evidence points to Infopyme inheriting, continuing or evolving the Amper public-payphone family after Amper shifted away from being primarily a public-telephone manufacturer. Whether this occurred through acquisition, licensing, transfer of personnel, subcontract manufacturing, or a Telefónica-led restructuring is still an open historical question that would likely require Spanish corporate records or former Telefónica documentation to answer definitively. |
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