The MásMóvil Group arrives at the gates of its merger with Orange with a net profit of 443.6 million euros in 2022, which represents a growth of 134% over the previous year, as reported this Tuesday by the hitherto fourth Spanish market operator. The results are largely due to the impact of the sale of 51% of Euskaltel's fixed network to a consortium of Basque investors for 850 million euros.
Ordinary profit before taxes (Ebitda) stood at 1,199 million euros, 26% more, and the Ebitda margin rose to 41%, its highest annual figure.
Revenues amounted to 2,894 million euros, 17% more than the previous year, of which 2,647 million came from income from services, which increased by 19% in the period.
These figures respond to the fact that the comparison is made in a year with an outstanding extraordinary operation that distorts the comparison, since the sale of the Basque network became effective in August. Without taking into account this extraordinary event in the accounts, the benefit would have grown by only 2%.
In any case, the evolution of the MásMóvil business continued to be very positive, as shown by customers. Broadband services grew by 7%, to 3.3 million, and postpaid mobile services by 6%, to 9.3 million. In total, the company gained 800,000 new customers and closed the year with 15.3 million total users.
"We are very happy with the results, both commercially and financially, maintaining a solid level of growth despite the difficult market conditions," said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of the company.
The tension in the telecommunications market is maximum. A first communication is expected for the beginning of April by the competition authorities of the European Union on the open merger process between MásMóvil and Orange, in which the main point of interest is focused on the possible conditions that may be established.
These conditions, called remedies in the sector, may imply the sale of certain assets of the operators under very advantageous conditions for competition. In the bid for these assets are various smaller operators, among which Digi, Avatel or Finetwork stand out. In the event that the former accessed them, it could provide a strong boost to the already intense competition in the Spanish market.
