The combined turnover of Telefónica (BME:TEF), Orange (EPA:PRAY) and Vodafone (LON:VOD) in Spain fell by 7.7% in 2022 compared to the period prior to the coronavirus pandemic, in a context marked by high competitiveness within the sector and the emergence of Digi as the fifth operator in the country.
The three telecommunications companies jointly entered 21,093 million euros during 2022 in Spain, compared to 22,862 million in 2019, the year before the pandemic, representing a decrease of 7.7%, according to the data notified by the companies to the different regulatory bodies and compiled by EFE.
A fall in revenues in Spain experienced by the three large companies, although it was more pronounced for Vodafone and Orange, with decreases of 16.6% and 12%, respectively.
Specifically, Vodafone Spain’s turnover fell from 4,732 million euros in 2019 to 3,949 million in 2022, while that of Orange Spain fell from 5,280 million to 4,647 million.
For its part, Telefónica España invoiced 2.75% less in 2022 compared to 2019, reaching 12,497 million euros.
DECLINE IN YOUR BUSINESS ALSO IN THE LAST YEAR
The fall in revenues of the three large listed companies was also reflected during the last year. Specifically, Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone entered 1.25% less than in 2021, when their combined turnover reached 21,361 million.
However, in this case, Telefónica’s turnover in Spain grew by 0.6%, while Orange’s decreased by 1.6% and Vodafone’s, by 6.5%.
BETTER PERFORMANCE GLOBALLY
In the case of its global businesses, the combined turnover of Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone reached 129,439 million euros in 2022, which represents a decrease of 4.3% compared to the period prior to the coronavirus pandemic, despite growing in the last year.
In this area, Telefónica’s turnover fell the most (-17.4%), going from entering more than 48,000 million euros in 2019 to not reaching 40,000 million in 2022, in a period in which the company launched a divestment strategy to reduce debt and its exposure in Latin America. and materialized its merger in the United Kingdom with Virgin Media, of Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA).
In fact, Spain’s weight within Telefónica’s global turnover increased from 26.5% before the pandemic to 31.25% in 2022, while, in the case of Orange and Vodafone, it fell by around two points.
For its part, Vodafone’s revenues grew by 3.2% in 2022 compared to 2019 to 45,975 million, while those of Orange increased by 3% to 43,471 million.
With respect to the last year, the combined revenues of these three companies increased by 1.3%, with Telefónica (1.8%) as the company whose turnover grew the most, followed by Vodafone (1.4%) and Orange (0.6%).
A PERIOD OF CONCENTRATION
In addition to the coronavirus pandemic -which did not affect the sector as much as banking or tourism-, these three telcos have faced strong competition from the sector since 2019, which has unleashed a price war at a time marked by large investments for 5G or fiber.
To this is added the growth experienced by MásMóvil (BME:MASM), a company that has established itself as the fourth most important operator in the country and doubled its turnover between 2019 and 2021 to 2,462 million.
Along with it, the operator of Romanian origin Digi already has almost five million customers in Spain, after achieving more than 1.3 million in 2022, 35% more than the previous year.
With regard to competition in the sector, in 2021 the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Services warned of the “intensification” of competition in Spain, which has led to consolidation operations, such as the start-up between MásMóvil and Orange Spain this past 2022 and which is awaiting the decision of the European Commission (EC).
Both companies closed in July their merger agreement in Spain, initiated in March and which involves a valuation of the company of 18,600 million euros, of which 7,800 correspond to Orange and 10,900 to MásMóvil.
