Spanish operators have been accelerating 5G deployments during 2021 and all carriers already offer 5G in the country’s main urban areas as well as in medium-sized cities. In this article, we briefly describe the current state of 5G deployments by Telefonica, Orange, Vodafone and Masmovil.
Telefónica
Spain’s largest operator Telefónica currently offers 5G coverage to over 80% of the Spanish population. The telco already offers its 5G service in over 1,250 municipalities across the country. During the first half of 2021, the deployment of 5G has focused on completing coverage in the cities deployed last year and reaching cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.
All the provincial capitals and autonomous cities, 100% of the cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and 98% of those with more than 20,000 inhabitants, as well as small towns in all the autonomous communities already have 5G, the Spanish telco said.
Telefónica’s 5G network currently combines the deployment of 5G NSA and DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing).
In July of 2021, Telefónica officially announced its decision to award the contracts to deploy its 5G standalone radio networks across Spain to Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
The deployment of Nokia and Ericsson 5G SA networks will be carried out on the 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz bands, Telefónica said.
Telefonica recently confirmed that the first deployments of 5G SA technology will occur in 2022.
Vodafone
Vodafone launched Spain’s first commercial 5G network in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Malaga, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastian, La Coruna, Vigo, Gijon, Pamplona, Logrono and Santander in June 2019. The carrier had previously said that it was working with Huawei and Ericsson in the deployment of the 5G network.
The telco’s 5G network currently reaches 25 cities across the country and uses spectrum in the 3.5GHz band and NSA architecture. Vodafone had launched a pre-commercial 5G standalone network in Spain in June 2021.
Orange
Orange is already offering 5G services in 787 towns and cities in 38 provinces across the country. According to the European operator, its 5G network infrastructure already reaches 52% of the Spanish population.
Orange had said it expects its 5G network to reach 90% of the Spanish population by the end of 2022.
Orange is currently offering 5G in the country through a combination of non-standalone (NSA) 5G and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technologies. The operator launched commercial 5G services in Spain in September of 2020, using equipment provided by Swedish vendor Ericsson.
Masmovil
Masmovil is currently offering 5G service in 686 towns and cities in 40 provinces across Spain for the customers of its Yoigo brand.
According to the telco, 54% of the country’s population is already covered with its 5G network infrastructure.
The carrier’s 5G service is being offered via a combination of its own infrastructure and an agreement with rival operator Orange. Masmovil currently has 80 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band for the provision of 5G.
Some of the provinces in which the carrier provides 5G include Alicante, Almería, Asturias, Ávila, Barcelona, Cádiz, Cantabria, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Huesca, León, Lugo, Madrid, Málaga, Melilla, Murcia, Navarra, Ourense, Las Palmas, Pontevedra, La Rioja, Salamanca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid, Zamora and Zaragoza. Since September, the telco expanded its 5G infrastructure in 133 cities across Spain.
In October 2019, Masmovil signed an agreement with Orange Spain covering mobile, fiber and broadband technologies. The deal gives Masmovil access to Orange Spain’s entire 5G network thanks to a “virtual active sharing mode” agreement, enabling it to deploy 5G in 4,500 locations that cover 35% of the Spanish population in 40 main cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Malaga and Bilbao. Orange will deploy a total of 1,500 new sites through the end of 2021 in Spain.
