2026 begins with new appointments at Catalan companies, including two familiar faces from Spanish politics. Former minister and former Speaker of the Congress Meritxell Batet joins the board of Sateliot, and former regional minister Àngels Chacón will head LLYC's Barcelona office. AstraZeneca's subsidiary in Spain and Iberia also starts the year with the appointment of female executives.

Interestingly, this week the telecoms sector has been looking to politics. On the one hand, Telefónica has appointed former PNV president Andoni Ortuzar to its board of directors. A controversial appointment, given that it comes amidst negotiations for a workforce reduction plan. On the other hand, Sateliot approached the socialist Meritxell Batet, president of the Congress of Deputies between 2019 and 2023, formerly Minister of Public Administration (2018-2019), and currently president of the National Council of the PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia). In addition, the Eurogroup has a new president, and Oriol Oró is stepping down as director of Fira de Lleida after 18 years. These are the most notable appointments of the week:

A few years ago, when people talked about the space economy, it sounded like a distant concept. Not only because of the physical distance, but also because it was difficult to imagine what launching small satellites to send data or connect devices from space could possibly offer. Now, at a historical moment marked by investment in defense—or war, as the President of the United States likes to call it—it's all starting to make sense.

The Catalan company Sateliot has officially entered the Australian market. This company, which offers satellite telecommunications services for the Internet of Things (IoT) with 5G coverage—through non-terrestrial networks (NTN) with its own satellite constellation—has received a license to deploy these services throughout the country. This will allow its service to be implemented on a large scale in rural and remote regions, where traditional networks do not reach. This deployment is planned for the second half of this year.