Spain's telecoms regulator CNMC has ordered the country’s main 4G network operators – Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange – to guarantee wholesale access to their 4G networks. The regulator’s decision comes in reply to a consultation filed by MVNO association AENOM in July and means that MVNOs can request the CNMC’s intervention if they are unable to reach an agreement with the 4G network service providers. The main network operators are obliged to negotiate “in good faith” with the MVNOs and to guarantee “reasonable prices” for 4G services. In principle, the obligation to provide wholesale 4G services only runs until 01 May 2015, although the CNMC is studying whether to extend the period.
The CNMC’s ruling comes two months after Spanish MVNO Pepephone signed a deal with Telefonica to move its mobile network to that of the incumbent operator. The regulator had initiated a probe into Pepephone's deal with Vodafone Spain after the MVNO had accused Vodafone of refusing to offer 4G services. Pepephone then reached an agreement with Yoigo in a bid to offer its customers 4G services, but that deal was held back by Yoigo's network sharing agreement with Telefonica, prompting another investigation. However, before the CNMC issued its ruling on both cases, Pepephone decided to tear up its agreements with Vodafone and Yoigo and sign a four-year deal with Telefonica. Orange Spain has also signed an agreement to provide 4G wholesale services to an as yet unnamed MVNO, in addition to the deal it announced earlier this year with Jazztel.
The CNMC’s ruling comes two months after Spanish MVNO Pepephone signed a deal with Telefonica to move its mobile network to that of the incumbent operator. The regulator had initiated a probe into Pepephone's deal with Vodafone Spain after the MVNO had accused Vodafone of refusing to offer 4G services. Pepephone then reached an agreement with Yoigo in a bid to offer its customers 4G services, but that deal was held back by Yoigo's network sharing agreement with Telefonica, prompting another investigation. However, before the CNMC issued its ruling on both cases, Pepephone decided to tear up its agreements with Vodafone and Yoigo and sign a four-year deal with Telefonica. Orange Spain has also signed an agreement to provide 4G wholesale services to an as yet unnamed MVNO, in addition to the deal it announced earlier this year with Jazztel.
