The telecommunications sector is experiencing one of its busiest periods in recent years. A dynamic scenario that is reflected in its investments. But how is the weight of these distributed in relation to the total invested in the last five years? We will tell you.
Between 2019 and 2023, the four big companies operating in the Spanish market invested slightly more than 20.5 billion euros in its fixed and mobile infrastructures. It is worth remembering that in this period of time MasOrange had not yet been created, so the aggregate data refers to Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and MásMóvil, according to the information sent by the National Commission of Markets and Competition and collected today by the newspaper Expansión. But, how is this investment distributed and which have been the operators that have demonstrated the greatest financial muscle?
Telefónica and Orange, in the lead
Telefónica has been the company that has made the largest investment, ranking first with a total of 8.376 million euros in the mentioned period. This represents 40.4% of the global investment during the five years mentioned. Annually, the investment is distributed in 1,716, 1,458, 1,607, 1,743 and 1,852 million euros from 2019 to 2023.
The reasons that explain this growth have to do with the double objective pursued by theto Spanish telecom during this period. On the one hand, the completion and deployment of the fiber optic networks present in our country. On the other hand, the improvement in 5G mobile networks, especially with regard to the nodes in the 3.5 GHz band.
Orange is in second place. The orange operator Orange has invested 5.207 billion euros during this period. However, this amount is not distributed in an increasing manner over the five years, ranging from 1.002 billion in 2019 to 923 million euros in 2023. In total, Orange’s weight in total investments is 25.1%.
The case of Vodafone and MásMóvil
The Vodafone’s cumulative investment During the period mentioned, it was 3.876 billion euros, which represents 18.7% of the total invested. Far behind other companies, such as Telefónica, for example.
Their distribution is also different, growing since 2019 (756 million euros) until 2021, with 1.07 billion euros invested. But decreasing since then to reach 550 million euros in 2023.
In last place is MásMóvil, with an investment of 3,121 million euros and a total weight of 15.8% of the total. The company started investing 734 million euros in 2019 and ended 2023 with 460 million. Its main investment peak was in 2021, reaching 863 million.
The stability of companies, the key
As we anticipated in the introduction, the five-year period analyzed has been one of the most dynamic in the telecommunications history of our country. In March 2022, Orange and MásMóvil reached the first agreement for its merger. An operation that, due to its magnitude, could not be completed until the second quarter of this year 2024. And which, in addition, had a great weight in the plan initially contemplated for its investments, given the changes that it would require. And also making sense of certain investments that were going to be made separately and independently.
Vodafone faced a situation that, although it is true that it is not similar, also directly impacted itsor investment program, motivated by the purchase of the Spanish subsidiary by the British fund Zegona. A set of movements that has drawn a new scenario and in which the first changes in the operations of all the companies mentioned are already beginning to be seen.
