19 Feb 2016 Spain reaches 3 million FTTH lines

Fibre drives broadband market growth in Spain, according to new statistic from the regulator; mobile market contracts.

Uptake of fibre is driving broadband growth in Spain, with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections in the country now reaching 3 million.

According to new figures published by the Comisión Nacional de Mercados y Competencia (CNMC) on Monday, there were 2.9 million FTTH connections in Spain by the end of November, thanks to the addition of 178,491 lines during the preceding 30 days.

Presuming the country experiences a similar monthly growth rate going forward, the number of FTTH lines is likely to have crept above the 3 million mark by the end of last year.

Telefonica’s Movistar leads the FTTH market, accounting for around three quarters of all connections, the regulator said. However, the incumbent lost 1.4 percentage points of share compared with the same date a year ago, while its rivals saw their market shares grow or remain flat.

Spain’s overall fixed broadband market comprised 13.13 million lines at the end of November, growth in the FTTH sector offsetting DSL line losses of just over 139,000. The country has a fixed broadband penetration rate of 28.3 lines per 100 inhabitants.

Meanwhile, total fixed-line connections grew by 32,131 during the month to reach 18.80 million and a penetration rate of 40.5%.

However, the mobile market contracted.

Growth in postpaid connections of 68,590 in November was wiped out by 112,223 prepaid line losses, taking Spain’s total mobile lines to 50.61 million at the end of the month, 0.1% fewer than a year previously.

The network operators – Movistar, Vodafone, Orange and Yoigo – saw more customers port their numbers away from than to their services, to the benefit of the MVNOs.

MVNOs account for 17.9% of Spain’s mobile lines, following 37,504 net adds in November.