Orange y Onivia negocian reconstruir su relación comercial

Spanish telecom giants Orange and Onivia are in negotiations to reconstruct their commercial relationship, as reported by EXPANSIÓN sources. Orange, the leader in Spanish telecom market by customer volume, aims to utilize Onivia's fiber optic network infrastructure for commercial purposes. Onivia, a fiberco (fiber-to-the-home business), is led by institutional investors Aberdeen, Arjun Partners, and Macquarie Capital.

The commercial relationship between Orange Spain and Onivia dates back to 2019, when Móvil S.A., which later merged with Orange's Spanish affiliate, sold a FTTH fiber network package to Orange in urban areas, creating Ultrafast in 2019. Orange and Onivia agreed to use the sold network for 20 years. In 2021, Móvil sold another one-million-home fiber package to Uclés, a joint venture between Onivia and Orange, held 51%-49% respectively.

In 2022, Móvil sold another 500,000-home package to Uclés. These three packages were integrated operationally into Onivia, which oversees maintenance, operation, and marketing. Onivia has also grown through its own deployments and purchases of Sota, a Digi fiber FTTH network.

Negotiations between Orange and Onivia aim to homogenize the fiber-to-the-home vehicles under Onivia's control. The outcome may involve Onivia purchasing the 49% stake held by Móvil (now Orange Spain) in Uclés. Additionally, the agreement seeks to extend and harmonize the contract duration beyond the original 20-year term for the first Ultrafast sale contract. Orange seeks to increase Onivia's contract length to 25 years, starting from now.

The deal benefits Onivia by extending contract durations, while Orange negotiates a significant reduction in monthly rental costs for fiber networks from its FTTH provider, coupled with limited customer commitments to Onivia. However, negotiations have slowed down due to Telefónica's potential price increase for ducts, the underground infrastructure used by fiber networks. Telefónica proposes a 116% price increase over six years, impacting costs and profitability for Onivia and Orange.