The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has published the Sectoral Economic Report on Telecommunications and Audiovisual 2023, revealing significant data about the state of the sector in the country. By the end of 2023, 86% of broadband lines in Spain were using fiber optics, highlighting the continuous growth and modernization of the telecommunications infrastructure.
Revenues and Market Shares
Retail sector revenues increased by 0.5% compared to 2022, while wholesale revenues decreased by 2.3%. Total sector revenues were similar to the previous year, with Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, and Grupo MasMovil representing 78% of total retail revenues. Not to forget the multitude of MVNOs that populate Spain with distributors like Aire networks from Grupo Aire.
Deployment of Next-Generation Networks
The deployment of fiber optics (FTTH) continued to increase, reaching 79.2 million accesses, five million more than the previous year. In total, 87.2 million new-generation accesses (NGA), including fiber and cable, were installed. Investment in the sector, excluding spectrum acquisition, grew by 3.7% compared to the previous year, totaling nearly 6 billion euros.
Improvements in Connection Speed
Connection speed experienced a notable improvement. 94.3% of lines (16.8 million) had a speed of 100 Mbps or higher. Connections of 500 Mbps or more totaled 9.8 million (54.8% of the total), and those of 1 Gbps or more reached 4.4 million (24.9% of the total). DIGI was the operator with the largest increase in fixed broadband lines, adding 539 thousand new lines and ending the year with 1.37 million.
5G Coverage
In 2023, 85.4% of the population had 5G coverage thanks to services marketed by four mobile operators. 4G technology reached 99.7% of the population. Mobile data traffic increased by 27.6% compared to the previous year, reaching 7.9 million Terabytes, with an average monthly traffic per line that grew by 24.6%. 4G networks represented 87.8% of total traffic. Additionally, 5G coverage will also be important for alternative communications in edge data centers.
Audiovisual Services
Subscriptions to paid audiovisual content grew by 3.8%, nearly reaching 30 million subscribers. Of these, 22.8 million were users of streaming or online services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, and Disney+, while 6.9 million were subscribed to paid content platforms of traditional operators. Advertising revenues stood at 1,950.1 million euros, a slight increase from the previous year.
In summary
The telecommunications and audiovisual sector in Spain continues to evolve with an increasingly robust and fast broadband infrastructure, driven by constant investment and significant technological deployment. With the growing adoption of 5G services and the expansion of subscriptions to paid audiovisual content, the Spanish market continues to adapt to the demands for high-quality connectivity and entertainment. For more details, complete data is available on the CNMCData portal.
Source of graphics CNMCData.