Alex Trelinski
BRITISH telecoms group Vodafone could pull out of Spain and has hired the Morgan Stanley investment bank to review its options in the country, according to Spanish media reports.
Spain, which comprises around 9% of global operations, was Vodafone’s worst-performing region in the 2023 financial year, with service revenue growth falling by 5.4%- the highest in any of the company’s markets.
The fall was blamed on ‘continued price competition and a lower customer base’.
In the group’s latest annual report, published in May, it noted a ‘strategic review’ of its operations in Spain was part of a multi-faceted action plan to spur growth across several European markets.
Deutsche Bank telecoms analyst Robert Grindle said that a partial or full sale of Vodafone’s Spanish division, including its fixed-network infrastructure, could attract private equity interest.
“Further strategic action by Vodafone to address underperforming assets following recent news of the proposed UK merger should prove sentiment supportive,” noted Grindle, referring to Vodafone’s planned merger with Three.
Vodafone is not the only firm in the Spanish market suffering from high competition with Orange having to strike a deal to merge operations with Masmovil to make savings, allowing it to increase investments.
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