Spain’s government has authorised the merger; last month the European Union gave its consent with remedies
Orange has cleared the final hurdle to merging its Spanish opco with MásMóvil when the Spanish government approved the deal this week. The transaction values the combined entity at about €18.6 billion and is expected to complete by the end of this quarter.
The merger was announced in July 2022. Orange and Masmovil are Spain’s second and fourth largest telecom operators respectively and together will be larger than former state monopoly Telefonica.
Orange has more than 17.1 million mobile customers and 4.6 million fixed customers.
MásMóvil Group’s fixed network covers 18 million homes with ADSL and over 26.8 million with fibre. Its 4G mobile network covers 98.5% of Spain’s population and the Group has over 14.7 million mobile customers.
After the merger, the combined entity will become Spain’s biggest operator with more than 30 million mobile customers, according to José Luis Escrivá, Spain’s Minister of Digital Transformation and Civil Service, reported by Reuters.
The Minister was also quoted saying at the news conference that there is an industrial plan in place for the combined entity that includes hefty investments in fixed and mobile infrastructure.
In February the European Union approved the merger, but insisted on remedies to protect competition in the Spanish market.