Telefónica warns the CNMC before the merger of Orange and MásMóvil: "It will no longer make sense to consider ourselves the dominant operator"

José María Álvarez-Pallete, executive president of Telefónica, has led the company's Shareholders' Meeting, in which the accounts for the 2021 financial year have been approved and the return to cash in the dividend distribution has been ratified, which improves up to 0 .30 euros per share in this course and abandons the

formula (consisting of the distribution of titles).

According to the president, "it was more prudent to establish this flexible dividend" due to the pandemic, although he stressed that "more than two thirds" of the shareholders chose to reinvest in securities, "trusting the company and avoiding dilution".

Ángel Vilá, CEO of Telefónica, has responded to the shareholders about the position of the Spanish multinational regarding the

(JV) that Orange Spain and MásMóvil have undertaken in Spain to give rise to a new telecommunications giant.

"From a regulatory point of view, it will no longer make sense to consider Telefónica as the dominant operator in several areas: because

; however, Telefónica de España will continue to be the leader in profitability".

Certainly, the JV will capture more than 40% of mobile and broadband in Spain.

In Vilá's opinion, the merger is "very positive news for the sustainability of the sector", because "it announces

that reflect the higher implicit value of the sector compared to where we are trading", in reference to the improvable stock market behavior of telecommunications.

Vilá expects "from now on a rational level of competition in the market" as long as the new JV seeks "a sustainable position."

In short, for Vilá, "

, because it allows for greater rationality and more new-generation investments."

"There is

, particularly in terms of the definition of relevant markets," added the CEO, who has gone further to bring out the upheaval that the landing of the technology giants has entailed.

Specifically, Vilá, has made a reference to the field of

, in which American platforms such as Netflix, Disney +, HBO Max or Amazon Prime Video are present: "In Spain, according to official data, there are more than 6 million clients As we have more than 3 million, we are considered a dominant operator, but the reality of the market is that there are more than 8 million additional customers who pay for television on

platforms ,

(OTT), so

"-

Not dominant, but "bigger than Twitter or Netflix"

Álvarez-Pallete has stressed the global relevance that Telefónica has already reached: "With 370 million customers, 47 million more than six years ago, we are a bigger platform than Twitter or Netflix", underlined the president, who has also pointed out " with more than 3.9 million kilometers of fiber" (which allows "going to and from the moon" more than five times) and an ultra-broadband network that "is the largest outside of China".

The executive has also taken stock of his six years in the Presidency of the company, replacing César Alierta.

"In the last six years

. We have invested almost 48,000 million euros and have carried out corporate operations for more than 35,000 million euros, including the largest operation in our history. We have reduced debt by more than 23,000 million, we have increased equity by more than 3,000 million and we have delivered more than 15 billion euros to our shareholders in dividends and share repurchases".

"Our economic model is fragile"

The impact of the war in Ukraine has given rise to a reflection by the president on the global economy and the alterations that are foreseen for the future:.

"The world of radical globalization has disappeared. Suddenly, we realize that our economies are vulnerable to energy prices, and a lot. But not only to that. The logistics chain, food production, fertilizers, semiconductors, noble gases, rare metals, make us see that

, and that it is based on a model of global trade with terms of trade with societies that do not share our values", said the president.

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