Telefónica sells Vodafone Spain wholesale access to its fibre network

Vodafone Spain has signed a wholesale deal with Telefónica to use its fibre network, even in areas where there is no regulatory compulsion to play nice.

While the deal is reminiscent of the situation in the UK, where former state monopoly has to offer wholesale fixed network services via Openreach, this one seems to be wholly commercial as it goes beyond anything mandated by Spanish regulators.

It’s being positioned as a win-win, allowing Vodafone to offer ultra-fast broadband and TV services to a significantly larger proportion of the population. For Telefónica this seems to be a conspicuous win for its wholesale business strategy, which seems to be a high priority.

The deal is effective immediately and features a five-year commitment from Vodafone, which seems to be dynamically priced according to the amount of traffic used by Vodafone over Telefónica fibre. The tone of the announcement seems as much to please regulators as anything else, with lots of talk of consumer benefit and synergies.