Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Company

The first attempts by the Portuguese government to attract a company to operate a telephone service in Lisbon and Porto were unsuccessful.

Members of the latter included Afonso de Serpa Leitão Freire Pimentel, 1st Count of Gouveia and the businessman Jorge O'Neill.

Becoming known locally as the Companhia dos Telefones, APT encountered a few early difficulties, including charges made by Lisbon City Council for using its roads to install telephone wires.

[5] From the 1920s, travellers were pointing out that many other European countries already had direct dialling and complaints about APT's services began to make their way into newspapers and into the Portuguese parliament.

The APT demolished the hall and built its offices on the site and a few months later started to auction some of the contents of the theatre.

In November of that year, a strike was declared by APT workers, who demanded better wages and fewer hours of work.

The situation improved somewhat when the company appointed a new general manager, William Godfrey Thomas Pope, in 1920, who came from a British family living in Lisbon.

Strikes and sabotage were not just caused by perceived low wages; the employees were also vociferous about the conditions of their work and received support from the media.

APT's labour and other costs were rising rapidly, but its tariff was based on an annual rate, which was quickly losing value.

After the 28 May 1926 coup d'état that led to the Ditadura Nacional, the forerunner of the Estado Novo, the company again renegotiated its contract.

[3][4][7] The Administração Geral dos Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones (General Administration of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones – AGCTT or CTT) was the body responsible for supervising APT.

In 1948, AGCTT opposed a request for a tariff increase, forcing Sir Alexander Roger, the UK Chairman of APT, to intervene directly with the Portuguese dictator, António de Oliveira Salazar, later leading to an audience with the President, Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes.

[7][8] The number of subscribers increased rapidly as phones became more affordable, the service improved and the populations of Lisbon and Porto grew.

On December 31, 1967, at the end of its contract, the Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Company ceased operating in Portugal, following a government decision to transfer the business to the Portuguese State.