Spanish telecom giant, Telefonica (Movistar) will begin to roll out a symmetric 30 Mbps and 300 Mbps broadband service over its fiber networks starting from 7th May. By offering symmetrical download and upload speeds, Telefonica is now updated with its rivals.
The new symmetric service will be available for free to all new Movistar Fusion subscribers as well as existing customers. To avail this free offer, existing customers will have to specifically request the upgrade. However, non-convergent subscribers will have to pay an additional EUR 5 per month to access the higher upload speeds.
Movistar is finally introducing a symmetric service to compete with its rivals in Spanish Telecom market. Jazztel has been offering symmetrical speeds of 200 Mbps download and upload service for over two years. Orange Spain introduced a symmetric 300 Mbps service in August 2015. This triggered Vodafone too to offer symmetrical speeds in December 2015. Though late to join the trend, Telefonica also wants to keep its customers by offering free upgrades.
Unhappy with the telecom regulator’s push for sharing networks with rivals, Telefonica in Spain has been adopted to a slowdown in network deployment, a move that has adversely affected the growth of fiber optic industry in the country. Telecom regulator CNMC has been promoting the concept of fiber network sharing in an attempt to speed up the broadband deployment and to bring equilibrium among competitors.
CNMC’s motives are clear that it wants to ensure fair competition among rivals in Spanish broadband market. However, the fact that the investment in building fiber optic networks by some operators that will eventually benefit its competitors does make sense to the telecom giant. Telefonica was aggressive in network deployment that had created many jobs in Spain.
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