Spanish pain continues for Vodafone, while M2M booms

The latest monthly mobile subscriber data released by the Spanish telecoms regulator indicates that Vodafone Spain continued to lose customers--down 9.3 per cent, while the overall market grew by over 2 per cent.

While the other major mobile operators boosted their subscriber numbers, of particular note was the huge increase in the number of M2M lines. CMT, the country's regulator, reported that the number of M2M 'lines' in use rose to 1.97 million, an increase of 21 per cent over the same period a year ago.

Mobile broadband continued to outpace fixed ADSL subscribers with a user base of 10.2 million users (up 8.5 per cent year-on-year with a penetration of over 21.9 lines per 100 inhabitants), compared to 8.3 million using ADSL services.

Fixed line usage also continued to fall, dropping by over 45,000 lines, to 19.78 million lines at the end of July. Fixed penetration now reaches 42.3 lines per 100 inhabitants, down from 42.5 in the same month a year ago.

Cable modem operators also disconnected nearly 2,700 lines in the month, reporting a customer base of 1.90 million lines.

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