Market Trends of Spain Telecom Industry
Speedy Rollout of 5G Network to Drive the Market
- As per the statistics gathered for "The Digital Society in Spain," specifically focusing on 5G, the digital revolution is positioned as a major driver of economic development and a recovery tool. Implementing this technology would require investments of more than Euro 5,000 million (USD 4966.50 million) in Spain and more than 300,000 new employees. Additionally, cutting yearly emissions across the European Union by up to 20% is emerging as a crucial tool for advancing environmental sustainability.
- All service providers already provide 5G across all the major metropolitan regions and medium-sized cities in Spain, where operators have been speeding up the 5G rollout since last year. The European carrier says that as of the end of the third quarter of this year, 68.7% of Spaniards could use its 5G network infrastructure.
- In October 2022, Spanish telecom operator Orange stated that it had already exceeded its initial objective for the entire year by deploying its 5G services in 1,529 towns and cities across 52 regions in Spain. 5G services are now being provided by Orange Spain using frequencies in the 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz bands. The European 5G observatory information shows that Vodafone now uses the 700 MHz frequency to provide 5G coverage to 190 localities. Also, MasMovil covers 54% of the nation, while Telefonica covers 80%. According to the report, orange covers 52% of the nation's population.
- According to statistics from the European Commission, the 5G Economic Deal would entail investments of more than Euro 5 billion (USD 4.97 billion) and the creation of more than 300,000 jobs in Spain, as stated in the "Digital Spain 2025" agenda. Due to this, the European Union and the Spanish Government have prioritized the development of 5G technologies, as seen by the decisions they have been making for a while.
- The announcement that Orange and Masmovil, Yoigo's parent company, have signed a legally binding agreement to merge their operations in Spain is a huge recent development in Spain's 5G market. They anticipate closing the deal in the second half of next year at the latest, considering that the transaction is subject to antitrust authorities' approval. As confirmed by Orange (FTTH), the increased efficiency would allow the merged business to speed up investments in 5G and fiber to the home.
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Demand for OTT Services to Boost the Market's Growth
- On the back of Netflix, HBO Espaa, and Amazon Studios, Spain is becoming a significant online video distribution market. The other top streaming video-on-demand services in Spain last year were Movistar+, Disney+, and Apple TV+. Also, in Q2 of the current year, Netflix is leading the OTT market, with Amazon not far behind, according to the most recent JustWatch survey. Although it is still early in the year, the report notes that Disney+ has shown remarkable growth, achieving +2% since January. By the end of June, Movistar+, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix had all added 1% each, putting them close behind on the upward trend.
- As per the report by BroadbandTVNews, at the end of last year, more than half of Spanish households with internet access (55.1%) utilized services like Netflix, HBO, and Amazon Prime. This was 11% higher than a year ago, according to the results of the most recent Household Panel survey conducted by the regulator CNMC. The study also discovered that young viewers (aged 10 to 24) spend an additional two hours daily on VOD platforms and two hours on video-sharing websites on weekends and holidays. In comparison, users 65 and older watched FTA and DTT services for about four hours daily. The latter services were mainly used for news consumption, whereas video-sharing websites like YouTube were primarily used for gaming video consumption.
- Spain is following the international trend and is the leader in video on demand as streaming keeps rising and changing watching patterns worldwide. Kantar Media says that the international leaders in video-on-demand (VOD), like Netflix and HBO, have quickly taken advantage of changes in how people watch TV in Spain.
- According to the Parrot Analytics report, with a 55.1% share of the demand for original digital dramas last year, Spain was the country that loved dramas the most. This is significantly higher than the 48.3% global share of demand for this genre. Spain had the lowest demand share for animation and children's genres, with 3.9% and 2.1%, respectively, compared to all other international markets in the research.
- Meanwhile, last year, crime dramas were the second-most popular subgenre in Spain. The subgenre's ranking in this study is the highest at this point. The popularity of the series "La Casa de Papel" was beneficial. However, compared to other markets, the performance of superhero shows in Spain was substantially weaker. Encouragingly, variety was one of the most successful genres last year.
