José M. Rodríguez Silva

Updated Thursday, April 4, 2024-02:12

  • Companies Masorange is born: 4,000 million investment and more than 8,500 employees to lead the Spanish market

After two years of arduous negotiations and an even tougher regulatory approval process, the presentation this week of the company

Masorange

, the union of Orange and MásMóvil, has confirmed all the unknowns that the management team, headed by by Meinrad Spenger and composed equally of former members of the two companies.

Although there is still much to do, since both companies were competitors until a week ago, this Wednesday's presentation cleared up some doubts.

What will happen to prices?

The new group has almost two dozen brands and the management's idea is that each one follows its own pricing policy, which would be: moderate annual increases in the Orange case to counteract inflation and stability in the rest of the brands. , which have recently benefited from promotions and increases in the amount of mobile data in rates.

What the CEO of the new group has ruled out is that the new company competes in the

ultra-low cost

in which many companies are placing themselves, with options below 20 euros.

Will brands disappear?

The market assumes that it will, but Spenger assured yesterday that there are no immediate plans. Of course, there are

14 key brands that will receive the bulk of the investment:

Orange's three main brands (Orange, Jazztel and Simyo); the bulk of MásMóvil brands: Yoigo, MásMóvil, Pepehone, Lyca, Lebara and Llamaya

;

and those of the old regional operators: Euskaltel and Guuk (Basque Country), Telecable (Asturias), R (Galicia) and Embou (Aragon).

Meanwhile, other brands of the MásMóvil group such as

Virgin Telco and Oceans

will continue to exist, but large amounts will not be allocated as they have a lower return on investment and fewer customers.

Will Yoigo start broadcasting football?

Television is perhaps the element in which the strategy differed the most between the French operator and MásMóvil, with

football as the main differentiating element

. The matter is under study by the leadership of the new company, although another important factor will be the price that Telefónica demands for renewing the football rights, which could rise as it is a larger competitor.

Do I have to change my router if I am a customer?

No, the brands, as with the prices, will continue to operate as separate brands, although they will generate significant savings, since now, if a customer switches, for example, from Jazztel to Pepephone, the company does not have to deploy new fiber.

Where it is foreseeable that

there will be a change in the medium term is in customer coverage,

where the natural thing would be for all customers to eventually start using the Orange network in a process that does not usually cause inconveniences to the user.

What is the future of the company?

The company is currently owned by Orange and the shareholders of MásMóvil, the vast majority of which are investment funds. The parties

have an agreement to activate an IPO

that is activated two years after the close of operations. However, given the group's high debt, it is not expected to be activated immediately. When that happens, Orange has the option to acquire the majority of the operator.