José M. Rodríguez Silva
Updated Thursday, February 1, 2024-16:30
Companies Vodafone and Telefónica launch themselves to capture mobile and fiber customers in the face of the imminent merger of Orange and MásMóvil
Heads and tails by the Competition authorities for telecommunications operators in Spain. On the one hand,
Zegona
has just received approval from the CNMC to buy
Vodafone Spain
after just over ten days , while
Orange and MásMóvil
have received a bucket of cold water when Brussels delayed the deadline to approve their purchase
until on February 22
.
The procedures have little to do with it, since in the case of
Zegona
, the investment fund does not currently have a presence in Spain so it can hardly generate a problem for the competition, while
Orange and MásMóvil
will create the number 1 operator for clients from Spain.
With the approval of the national supervisor, the British group only needs two authorizations from the Government to take over
Vodafone
: one from the Foreign Investment Board and another from the Secretary of State for Telecommunications, after having also received the filter on foreign subsidies. of the EU. Meanwhile, the British operator continues to operate naturally and has announced its return to marketing football in bars.
For Orange and MásMóvil, it is a new blow, since both companies have expressed on several occasions their displeasure at the delay of the operation, which has been fully agreed upon for a year and a half and almost a year in the community offices.
The companies have already presented a series of divestments that involve
delivering mobile frequencies and an access contract to their mobile network to Digi
so that this operator can have its own coverage and not depend solely on that of
Telefónica
, the main victim of the imposition of known as
remedies
in community jargon.
The measure, which will cause a drop in prices in the wholesale market, seemed to have been enough to satisfy
Margrethe Vestager
, Commissioner for Competition, at a time when more and more voices from Member States and the European Commission are demanding that a more lax in this field to create true European champions that can compete in size with their North American rivals.
The 50/50 merger will create a company
valued at 18.6 billion euros
and a leader in mobile telephone and fiber optic customers, although it will continue to bill less than Telefónica, which has already demanded the liberalization of its regulatory commitments as a leading operator when the merger is completed. authorize
The movement in these operations compensates for the tense calm around
Telefónica,
which is waiting for the
State to acquire 10% of the capital or for the Saudi group STC to request authorization to increase its direct participation to 9.9%.
in the shareholding.