Telefonica sees potential for asset purchases in Spain after losing No.1 status

Digi Communications

22/02/2024 14:36

MADRID, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Telefonica  TEF.MC  expects
regulators to allow it to buy assets from rivals in its home
country as it is set to lose its status as the largest local
operator due to a merger between Orange's  ORAN.PA  local unit
and Spanish company MasMovil.
    Since it was privatised in the 1990s, the former state-owned
telecom monopoly was all but barred from growing through
acquisitions by anti-trust regulators due to its dominant
position in Spain.
    "The regulation has to adapt to the fact that Telefonica is
no longer the leader in the wholesale market," Chief Operating
Officer Angel Vila told Reuters on Thursday, urging more
flexibility around possible asset acquisitions in the future.   
    The 18.6-billion-euro merger, which was authorised earlier
this week by the European Commission, will create an operator
larger than Telefonica in terms of clients.
    Besides Telefonica and Orange-MasMovil, the other large 
telecom operators in Spain are Vodafone  VOD.L , Romania-based
Digi  DIGI.BX  and privately-owned Avatel.         

 (Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip and Jane
Merriman)
 ((Inti.Landauro@thomsonreuters.com;))