Bankinter| The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) is opening a public consultation for one month to deregulate the wholesale fixed telephony market. It proposes that Telefónica be freed from the obligation, as the dominant operator, of having to provide fixed lines to any customer who demands them, regardless of the operator. It justifies this by the current low demand for fixed lines compared to a majority of fixed telephony lines with internet and the absence of high entry barriers for access and call origination on fixed networks. It considers that retail fixed telephony services in Spain are provided under “relatively competitive” conditions and that Telefónica’s market share has been reduced by four percentage points between 2018 and 2022 to 41.9%.
Assessment: Until now, Telefónica had the obligation to cede its copper and fibre networks, giving access to other operators, both voice and broadband, as well as giving way to wholesalers in its networks and in its exchanges to place their equipment and provide a universal service and guarantee connection to all users at affordable prices in any location. Telefónica’s announcement of the closure of its copper network in 1Q24 has accelerated the process of abandoning copper networks by alternative operators, which, moreover, have acquired sufficient deployment to guarantee competition. In this direction, following another recent consultation, Telefónica will also be freed from the obligation to cede its submarine cables given the emergence of other alternatives. Good news that goes in the direction of the deregulation demanded by the group and which frees it from obligations that did not allow it to compete on equal terms, as well as to reduce costs such as those caused by the closure of the copper network.
