“The traditional debate of who pays for the networks has gone down in history. We are in another moment. Now what we want is for our money to be returned to us and to have the freedom to invest where we consider most appropriate," this is how forceful the CEO of Telefónica, José María Álvarez Pallete, was this Wednesday in his conversations with analysts during the celebration of the Company Shareholder's Day.
Pallete has not stopped repeating that what he is demanding is “the total deregulation of the sector.” He has warned Europe that the regulation is “totally obsolete designed for a sector that no longer exists”, he commented in relation to a copper network that does not even exist anymore, since Telefónica will complete its dismantling in 2024.
“It is time for Europe to consider whether it wants to continue maintaining this artificial competition with legislation that is unaffordable or allows operators to advance in a new context of the sector,” Álvarez Pallete insisted.
Along these lines, the president of Telefónica has once again claimed that what Spain needs, specifically, is for the Orange-MásMóvil merger to be resolved “without remedies.” That is, without obligations to sell assets to any of the participants. "In any case, we are in a position to face a market that does have them." In reference to the possibility that Digi is the beneficiary of these remedies and could acquire networks, Pallete has confirmed that he has no particular fear of this situation because the contracts that Digi has with Telefónica "are long-term and consolidated."
