Telefonica announces EUR2.5 billion spend to support 5G across 4 markets

Telefónica has announced it intends to spend EUR2.56 billion in its four largest markets on 5G spectrum.

  • The lion’s share will be spent in Germany (EUR1.45 billion).
  • EUR834 will be spent in the UK for a mixed bag of spectrum in the 3.5GHz and 700MHz bands.
  • EUR175 million will be invested in Brazil
  • EUR107 million has been invested in Spain for the 3.5GHz band.

Elsewhere Telefónica will spend an additional €140 million in Chile and as yet unspecified sums in Argentina and Peru, where it intends to invest in licences once these become available in 2022.

Telefónica is still losing customers in its home market – particularly at the low end and in the pay-TV base, which declined by 6.2%. But it increased its FTTH customer base by 4.8% to 4.77 million connections by the end of September 2021. The Spanish giant reported a 3.6% increase in group revenues overall to EUR9.3 billion, with much of this driven by Germany and Hispam.