The new company, which will be attached to the Escrivá ministry, will have as its main functions, as stated by the ministry, “the promotion and execution of investments in strategic sectors linked to digital transformation; the execution of the PERTE Chip; participation in actions related to the Next Tech Fund and the Spain Audiovisual Hub Fund; and finally, the financing and support of emerging technological projects linked to digitalization, Artificial Intelligence and the audiovisual sector.”
The creation of the SETT, which was announced at a press conference by Minister Escrivá on Monday of last week, on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, caused a great stir. The reason was the possibility, recognized by Escrivá himself at the press conference, that the SETT would also group together the State’s holdings in telecommunications companies as well as in infrastructure and digital services companies, which gave rise to thinking that it could end incorporating the 10% stake that the Government intends to acquire in Telefónica. This was acknowledged by Escrivá when he pointed out that it would make “sense.” And not only Telefónica’s participation, but also the 28% that Sepi has in Indra, which the Government wants to convert into the large Spanish defense company.
However, in recent days, other members of the Government, such as the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, in an interview with EXPANSIÓN have clarified that this 10% participation will be in charge of the state holding company Sepi, which depends on the Ministry of Finance.
In fact, it seems that the function that SETT was initially assigned to also act as a holding company for investees, which earned the nickname “Sepi Digital” based on the mandate to “group the participations of the General State Administration in telecommunications and infrastructures and digital services” is not standing out especially now among the functions planned by the organization, since it is not among those mentioned in the statement from the Ministry of Digital Transformation. However, sources from the Ministry of Digital Transformation have indicated to EXPANSIÓN that the initial functions remain intact and that none of them have been amputated, so, theoretically, it will continue to aspire to group the State’s technological participations.
In any case, given the nature of the functions that have been entrusted to the SETT, executing public policies in strategic sectors, and financing technological projects, it would probably be more accurate to call it “the CDTI Digital”, since this veteran organization, now assigned The Ministry of Science and Innovation is responsible for providing support to the R&D projects of Spanish companies.