The historic French operator Orange and its Iberian counterpart MasMovil have given birth to the leading Spanish telecoms player in terms of number of subscribers. The joint venture will be equally owned.
At the end of February, Orange announced that it had received authorization from the authorities, notably the European Commission, to definitively create a joint venture with MasMovil, owner of the fourth Spanish mobile operator, Yoigo. The ambition of the two companies? Building a company that can seize the leadership position in the Spanish telecoms market. It has now been done for a few days.
A juggernaut of 37 million subscribers in Spain
A month later, at the end of March, Orange and MasMovil announced the creation of a joint venture, in which each company will hold 50% of the shares, with strictly identical governance rights.
With 37 million customers (30 million on mobile and 7 million on fixed lines), the joint venture theoretically becomes the leading telecom operator in Spain in “ customer volume », that is to say in number of subscribers. Its turnover was estimated several weeks ago at some 7.4 billion euros for its first year of activity.
More specifically, Orange Spain’s revenues are expected to reach 4.4 billion euros, and 1.65 billion euros for shareholders of the country’s fourth mobile operator, MasMovil.
For Orange, this is only one step in its long-term deployment in Europe
The company born from the merger of Orange Spain and MasMovil will operate as a single entity. From a financial point of view, this means that the accounts of the two parent companies will be consolidated. The new entity has also been operational since March 26, 2024.
“ This announcement is a first step in the deployment of Orange’s long-term strategy in Europe », welcomed a few days ago the boss of the French group, Christel Heydemann, who mentions that the merger “ will drive innovation and investment in digital and broadband services in Spain “.
The entity will work to ensure better fixed (optical fiber) and mobile (4G, 5G) coverage of the Spanish territory. Note that Jean-François Fallacher, general manager of Orange France and expert on the Iberian Peninsula market, has inherited the position of non-executive president of the new company.
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