Vodafone and Orange have started the deployment of fibre networks in 12 Spanish cities, namely Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Malaga, Valencia, Alicante, Zaragoza, Cordoba, Valladolid, Alcorcon, Badalona and Hospitalet de Llobregat. In each of these cities, Vodafone and Orange have assigned projects to different companies, which have begun the deployment of horizontal networks, and have started procedures to obtain the required installation authorization from community members.
The deployment is based on the network sharing agreement signed by Orange and Vodafone with Telefonica at the beginning of July. The agreement enables operators to share vertical fiber-optic infrastructures in Spanish buildings. Under the terms of the deal, the operators will gradually specify the cities, areas and building in which they want to roll out optical fibre and the building manager operator will prepare an infrastructure delivery plan.
Orange and Vodafone have now announced the first 12 cities where they will share fibre infrastructure. In buildings where Telefonica has completed its fibre deployment, Vodafone and Orange have started the process to access the vertical infrastructure. In areas where Telefonica has no coverage, Vodafone and Orange are developing their own vertical infrastructure, which can be then shared with Telefonica.
Vodafone and Orange plan to extend their fibre network to over 800,000 buildings (including households, local business users and offices) by March 2014, and to nearly 6 million buildings over the next four and a half years. The first fibre connections will be commercially available in the fourth quarter. Overall investments in this first phase of the deployment, which covers 12 cites, are expected to reach around EUR 200 million.
