The operators have made it clear in recent months that they have adopted a new strategy that is working perfectly for them and that will possibly continue in the coming years. It is about sharing networks, a concept that, perhaps, years ago was unlikely, but that has now been confirmed as a very beneficial idea.
The telecommunications sector has changed a lot in recent years. Some time ago, as we indicated, alliances between operators were not exactly common. The truth is that the sensations were totally opposite. But today alliances are our daily bread and, furthermore, one of the best options that operators can resort to. Only in this current year, 2024, four highly relevant agreements have been carried out between companies in the sector and it is a phenomenon that will continue next year.
It is the response to the market situation
As experts confirm, the telecommunications sector is going through a moment of certain stagnation throughout Europe, including the Spanish market. Fixed and convergence revenues will increase slightly, while mobile revenues will decrease. The operators are aware of this and of the way in which traffic has also been suffering a slowdown compared to the upward trend that occurred from 2020. This new paradigm is due to, among other things, the way in which 4G traffic has moved to 5G without a significant increase in usage. However, specialists also believe that it is a matter of time before this trend returns to a period of growth. But until that happens, operators know that they have to reduce investments and, above all, the expenditure of very valuable resources.
The alliances, collaborations and other agreements that have been carried out in the sector in 2024 have several objectives. One of them is to avoid, under these new needs, investing budget in overlapping their networks with those that already exist of their rivals. This strategy, which was common in the past, has now been put aside. The large operators, from Movistar to Vodafone, including MasOrange, no longer have problems signing collaborations and using their rivals’ networks. The same happens with Digi, which in a short time has crept into the group of the main operators with an aggressive policy that, for its part, does not leave aside those alliances.
What have we seen so far?
There are many projects that have been born throughout this year and that have confirmed that these collaborations and joint projects are a norm that we will continue to see in the future. For example, Telefónica and MasOrange have collaborated so that the merger of MásMóvil and Orange uses Movistar’s fiber network. It has been an important move because of what it means for both entities, but especially because of the savings it will imply for MasOrange. By gaining access to 3.5 million homes thanks to this pact, the MasOrange service is positioned in a range of investment savings that is very succulent.
We have also seen MasOrange and Vodafone, in this case creating a new fiber company that Orange will manage with 50%, while Vodafone will have 10% and an external partner will add the rest of the percentage. For its part, Vodafone has also repeated the operation under similar characteristics and conditions with Telefónica, although in this case the Movistar company retains 63%. Vodafone would be left with 37% in the absence of definitively knowing what percentage they give to an additional investor who introduces capital.
Finally, Digi and Telefónica have increased their collaboration and renewed their previous agreements. This means that the Romanian operator will continue to use the Movistar network to complement it with the own service it offers to its customers. In addition, they have committed to combining their mobile frequencies, which has meant that, for the purposes of the law, their deployment is counted in a combined manner. This prevented Telefónica from being able to obtain a greater percentage of frequencies from MasOrange, as we told you a few hours ago in another news item.
These types of agreements and alliances are believed to continue to increase in the coming year 2025 and will not be something that will stagnate, at least for the moment. The operators have verified that the market is going through a stable moment in which there is not as much growth as in the past. In any case, they also know that it is a matter of time before the Internet of Things, AI and other technologies that will require maximum quality connections begin to revolutionize the telecommunications sector again. When that happens, it is very possible that the collaborations that the operators are already doing will end up being very beneficial.
