The two telecoms have closed a binding agreement to continue advancing in the constitution of their fiber optic joint venture that will manage more than three and a half million real estate units.
Telefónica and Vodafone have signed a binding agreement to establish their fiber optic joint venture. After the last few hours full of rumors about the imminent signing, it was not until a few minutes ago that the Spanish company communicated it to the CNMV, coinciding with the presentation of its financial results for the first nine months of the year.
Specifically, this agreement was signed in the wee hours of the morning, as Expansión reports. He Telefónica interest was to be able to announce it during the morning today, which is why the negotiations have not ended until both companies have finalized the final details.
A company that will cover more than three and a half million real estate units
The agreement between Telefónica and Vodafone will serve to coverapproximately 3.6 million real estate units, with assets that are currently part of the Telefónica de España fiber and that represent approximately 12% of its national network. It is estimated that the company will initially have around 1.4 million customers, which implies a penetration level of approximately 40%”explains the statement that has been issued to the CNMV.
Although the closing of the operation is subject to receiving the corresponding authorizations by the different regulatory bodies, as is usual in these cases, it is already known what the weight of both companies will be on the resulting one. Telefónica Spain will have 63%, while Vodafone Spain will keep the remaining 37%. Telefónica has also indicated that, as part of the agreement, a series of service contracts will be signed by the group with the new company.
The intention to create this joint venture was announced at the end of July, when both operators confirmed their intentions to create a joint venture that would improve the fiber services that the national consumer currently had.
José Miguel García, CEO of Vodafone Spain, wanted to highlight the importance that this agreement will have in our country, confirming Vodafone’s interest in transforming Spain into a “most competitive company“, while guaranteeing “better service” for all its clients.
“With the creation of this ‘fiberco’, Telefónica captures efficiencies and adds value to the available network, contributing to the development of digitalization in the Spanish market for the benefit of consumers and companies,” Telefónica confirmed last July.
A future financial partner
The share distribution that we have previously mentioned will be temporary, since the intention of both companies is to bring in a new financial partner to monetize their assets. Despite this, it is known that Telefónica’s intention is to continue retaining the majority, while Vodafone’s participation will be around 10%. The financial partner will capture the remainder, which would be close to 40%. The objective of both telecos is to obtain between 800 and one billion euros.
It is a quite similar agreement which Vodafone Spain itself has already signed with MasOrange, creating a new fiber network joint venture. Although it is worth remembering that in this case, the number of homes managed was considerably higher than what is expected to be managed with this new alliance, since the number of real estate units was above 11 million.
