Spanish Operators Announce Shared Fiber Network Plan

Vodafone Spain and MasOrange agreed on the initial terms of a national fiber network sharing agreement. The proposal includes the creation of a new company and plans to bring in third-party investment.

In separate statements, the companies revealed a non-binding document outlining the key terms of the deal had been signed. The operators aim to provide 11.5 million premises across Spain with access to the modern fiber optic network. Subject to final agreement and regulatory approvals, a new company will be created to run the project with plans to bring in a third-party equity investor.

Vodafone Spain-owner Zegona Communications said the initial ownership of the resulting company would be split based on the number of respective customers within the fixed network footprint. After bringing in the investor, Vodafone Spain is expected to own 10%, with 40% allocated to the third party and the other 50% held by MasOrange. Both players have recently had significant changes to their businesses. MasOrange is the result of a merger of Orange and Masmovil’s Spanish units completed in March, and Vodafone Spain was bought from Vodafone Group by Zegona Communications two months ago.