The fiber market heats up with the purchase of the Digi network by Onivia

The sale by Digi of an extensive fiber optic network to Onivia – one of the large independent wholesale operators in the Spanish market – is significant for several reasons. One is the economic importance in itself, since the transaction amounts to 750 million euros .

But it is also going to have very important consequences in the future configuration of the competitive framework of the telecommunications sector in Spain. To begin with, it represents the creation of a very important group, with 10 million homes – between the 6 million that it buys from Digi and the more than 4 million that Onivia already owned -, and with a very complementary presence from the big cities – which is where it has deployed Digi – to the medium and small s – which are Onivia ‘s previous focus of specialization -.

This will undoubtedly be an incentive and facilitator of competition, since a group of that scale will undoubtedly lower the barriers to entry into the sector. The new Onivia will make it easier for operators of all types, including regional ones, to consider extending their commercial activity to other areas very easily.

The big difference, furthermore, is that Onivia may be more aggressive in its prices than the other two large existing fiber networks in Spain: those in the hands of Telefónica and Masorange . The reason is that, unlike its two rivals, Onivia does not have a retail customer base to protect.

The objective of every wholesale operator is to ensure that the greatest number of telcos use their network to reach customers. The other great effect is that, due to its new scale, it will be considered a potential consolidator of the wholesale telecom sector, a sector that is too atomized and in which many groups lack the necessary scale.

Therefore, it could accelerate the inevitable consolidation process that must occur in this sector in which there are other operators susceptible to purchase or merger, such as Adamo, Elanta, Olin, PTV, Rede Aberta or Asteo.

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