Warning signs have been triggered at the headquarters of Orange and Vodafone. Both operators have seen their figures worsen, especially regarding mobile number portability, according to the latest official data from the Spanish market.
While their competitors manage to improve or stabilize their situation, these two operators can't stop the hemorrhage of customers. This has set off all the alarms in the sector.
During the past February, more than 509,000 mobile operator changes were registered in Spain. This figure represents a slight decrease of 0.4% compared to the same month of the previous year. However, the problem is not so much in the total volume but in how it is distributed.
That's where Vodafone and Orange are clearly disadvantaged, reports El Nacional. On the opposite side are Movistar and Digi, which were the big winners in this area. Both managed to capture more mobile lines compared to the previous month.
The opposite happened with Vodafone and Orange, which recorded negative balances. This situation reinforces the trend of loss of competitiveness that both operators have been dragging in recent months.
This is how the mobile market share in Spain stands
According to data from the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), the distribution of mobile market share in February was as follows. MasOrange with 42%, Movistar with 26%, Vodafone with 19%, and Digi with 10%. The rest of the operators took the remaining 3%.
In total, there are 61.51 million active mobile lines in Spain, which means a penetration of more than 125 lines per 100 inhabitants. This represents an increase of almost 3 points compared to the previous year. But this widespread growth is not benefiting Orange and Vodafone, which continue to lose ground to their rivals.
In the field of fixed broadband, the situation is also complicated for the two major operators in trouble. Only Digi managed to improve its share, reaching 11%, three points more than the previous year. Meanwhile, MasOrange dropped to 38%, Movistar fell to 32%, and Vodafone declined to 14%.
The growth of fiber optics, which now totals 16.7 million lines, is not being leveraged by Vodafone or Orange. Overall, fixed broadband reached 18.65 million lines, about 94,000 more than a year ago. Movistar continues to lead in this category with 33.8% of the total.