Orange ended Q3 with 2.50 million subscribers in the 5G segment

Spanish telecom operator Orange said its 5G Standalone (SA) network reached 38 Spanish cities as of the end of the third quarter.

Orange’s 5G SA network was initially launched in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and Seville. It currently reaches other important cities such as Alicante, Castellon, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, Valladolid and Zaragoza.

Orange noted that the coverage of 5G SA in these initial cities reaches nearly 80%.

Ericsson, Nokia and Oracle Communications are the main providers of Orange’s 5G SA network.

The telco also said it ended Q3 with 2.50 million subscribers in the 5G segment, after a net addition of 328,000 subscribers in the quarter. Over the last twelve months, the carrier added over 1 million 5G customers.

Orange also said its overall 5G network reached a coverage of 83.2% of the Spanish population as of the end of September. Orange provided 5G services in  2,463 towns and cities across Spain at end-Q3.

The Spanish carrier is currently offering 5G services through frequencies in the 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz bands.

In the last spectrum auction, Orange secured 2×10 megahertz in the 700 MHz band, which adds to the 110 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band already owned by Orange. The company invested a total of 523 million euros (currently $552 million) in the acquisition of these frequencies.

The operator launched commercial 5G services in Spain in September of 2020, using the 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture.

Last year, Orange and Masmovil signed a binding agreement to combine their operations in Spain.

The transaction is subject to approval from antitrust and other regulatory review and is expected to close during the second half of 2023. The file has already been registered with the European Commission.

Under the terms of the agreement, the 50-50 joint venture stipulates that both telcos will have equal governance rights in the combined entity. The deal also includes a right to trigger an IPO under certain conditions for both parties after a defined period and, in such a scenario, an option for Orange to take control of the combined entity.

In June, The European Commission said it believed that the proposed merger of Spanish operators may reduce competition in the mobile and fixed internet markets.

On April 3, 2023, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess if the proposed merger would potentially restrict competition in several market segments including mobile telecommunications services, fixed internet access services and multiple-play bundles.