The Spanish telecommunications market is really interesting since the return of summer. In addition to being in suspense over the merger of Orange and MásMóvil, this week we learned about the sale of Vodafone to the British venture capital fund Zegona. As if that were not enough, we have a major surprise in the Único Redes Activas contest that has generated discomfort in some operators due to the decision made by MásMóvil.
The Unico Redes Activas contest seeks to provide connectivity to “geographical areas located in municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants that lack mobile communications service with 4G technology that provides at least 50 Mbps downstream.” For this, 544 million euros have been allocated under the principles established by the Digital Spain 2026 Agenda and the Strategy to promote 5G technology, approved by the Council of Ministers on December 1, 2020.
MásMóvil is presented by surprise
According to Expansión, no operator expected MásMóvil to participate in this contest. In fact, it has presented a candidacy in the 50 Spanish provinces to provide 5G connection to those towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants in emptied Spain. The big three had reason to think that the yellow operator would stay on the sidelines.
This is because MásMóvil does not have frequencies in the 700 MHz band, which is considered the best for this type of initiatives. Lower frequencies have longer range and better penetration indoors. Therefore, with fewer antennas it is possible to cover a larger surface area, although the maximum 5G speed that we do have with other frequencies such as 3,500 MHz is not achieved.
Another reason why they did not expect MásMóvil to appear is because its mobile network is small and represents a quarter of that of its rivals. It has about 5,500 4G antennas, compared to more than 20,000 from Movistar, almost 19,000 from Vodafone and more than 17,000 from Orange. Furthermore, this network is very focused on large cities.
Despite all this, MásMóvil has presented itself and, always according to Expansión, this has irritated Orange. As we know, both companies are finalizing the details of their merger which, according to the latest rumors, should be closed before the end of the year. Orange did not want to comment on this information.
MásMóvil’s entry into this contest could take away Orange’s aid in areas where Orange does have 4G sites and could easily modernize the network to 5G without too much investment. Movistar and Vodafone would not have taken the yellow movement very well either since they could lose provinces and key aid to continue deploying their networks.
Welcome to the wonderful Game of Thrones.
