The world of telecommunications is experiencing a substantial change that is turning towards virtual operators (OMV), which tend to benefit the most in the results shared monthly by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). And it seems that the wait for approval between Orange and MásMóvil seemed like it would never come, so that uncertainty has taken its toll on their start to the year, reflecting negative figures in their respective customer portfolios.
A week ago, we learned of the news of the Government’s approval of the creation of one of the largest joint-ventures, the merger between Orange and Grupo MásMóvil. But the numbers of portability of mobile lines in the telecommunications sector have also been released and the data have not been very satisfactory for the new conglomerate of operators. However, Vodafone is the one that has come out worst of the lines carried in January 2024.
The Orange-MásMóvil and Vodafone merger, the most affected
The CNMC has shared the latest report corresponding to January 2024 on the monthly profits of fixed broadband lines and the monthly net profits of mobile lines.
In the document it can be seen that in the mobile part, Movistar, Orange, MásMóvil and Vodafone are the ones that have lost the most lines during said period, although today they still represent 70.5% of the total mobile lines in the market . Specifically, Vodafone leads the fateful podium with 36,000 fewer ports, followed by Orange and Movistar with around 11,100 fewer lines and, finally, MásMóvil with around 10,000 fewer ports.
In this case, the MVNOs are the ones that come out unscathed again, with 68,700 more lines that add to their volume of clients, which have one of the best months in their history.
If we refer to general terms, mobile telephony lost 27,465 lines in January and closed the month with 59.53 million lines. In total, 501,877 mobile numbers were ported, which is 5.3% more than in the same month of 2023.
In net profit, Vodafone is the one that loses the most
In addition to the ports, Vodafone continues to be the company with the least net profit, including the new numbers that are registered. In total, more than 106,000 fewer lines were registered. However, the rest of the operators, except MásMóvil and the OMVs, have offered numbers that do not benefit them at all. On the one hand, Movistar obtains a net balance of almost 18,000 escapes and, on the other, Orange amounts to 36,000 losses.
On the opposite side, the OMVs gain 94,000 more lines and Grupo MásMóvil is satisfied with 39,000 new additions.
Movistar maintains its reign on the landline
Finally, the fixed broadband quota section continues to have a clear winner. Although Movistar has not been the one that has carried the most fixed lines, with a sum of 3,000, 35.9% of the total corresponds to blue teleoperators. For its part, Orange drops by 6,300 lines, while Vodafone has 23,000 fewer lines.
However, MVNOs continue to gain ground after completing this month of January with 48,600 lines, led by Digi, accompanied by MásMóvil, which reaches 9,100 lines.
In the global calculation, the year began with the addition of 101,869 new fiber optic lines until reaching 14.9 million.
