Spanish Telcos explore shared mobile network

• Spain’s major mobile operators — Vodafone Spain (owned by Zegona), MasOrange and Telefónica — have held talks on forming a shared mobile network RANco, building on existing fibre joint ventures.
• The discussions reflect a shift in European telecoms toward network co-investment and sharing as a response to high costs and structural capital efficiency challenges.

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What happened: Spanish carriers pursue mobile network sharing

Vodafone Spain, MasOrange and Telefónica, three of Spain’s largest telecommunications companies are exploring a radio access network joint venture (RANco) to share mobile infrastructure, according to comments from Zegona Communications CEO Eamonn O’Hare on January 26, 2026. The talks indicate that the long-discussed idea of mobile network sharing is gaining traction as industry economics tighten.

The proposed RANco — modelled on earlier Spanish fibre shared-network ventures such as FibrePass and FibreCo — aims to pool mobile RAN assets to reduce duplication of network build-outs and operating costs. O’Hare acknowledged that earlier discussions had been delayed while companies focused on fibre infrastructure projects, but said “now we’re back with more energy” to consider a combined mobile network entity.

Vodafone Spain already has existing roaming and wholesale arrangements with other players like Digi Spain, and MasOrange and Vodafone have established collaborative fibre operations backed by investors such as GIC. Adding Telefónica into a joint mobile RAN venture could significantly reshape competitive dynamics.

O’Hare made clear that M&A is not a priority, emphasising that the focus is on improving capital efficiency — a long-standing challenge for operators facing high costs in deploying and operating 5G and future networks. Smaller operators such as Avatel and Adamo risk being squeezed as the market consolidates and network sharing becomes a competitive necessity.

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Why it’s important

This development matters to technology enterprises because it highlights a wider shift in European telecoms toward “co-build, co-share” economics as a structural response to rising costs and diminishing returns on network capital. Traditional models — where each operator builds its own network everywhere — are proving less sustainable in an era of expensive spectrum, dense 5G deployment and the need for future 6G readiness.

Shared mobile infrastructure promises lower operating expenses, faster coverage roll-outs and improved utilisation of capital, but it also raises questions about competitive differentiation and regulatory oversight. For network vendors, cloud service providers and systems integrators, network co-investment models could redefine procurement cycles and technology roadmaps, favouring scalable, interoperable solutions over bespoke single-operator deployments.

The Spanish case offers a real-world example of how capital efficiency imperatives are reshaping network strategies in mature telecom markets, and it may serve as a bellwether for other European regions weighing similar collaborations amid tightening economic conditions.