MADRID-Spain’s incumbent mobile phone operators Telefonica and Airtel could have some competition soon, as the country prepares to award a third license this month.
Involved in the auction is the mobile arm of the Spanish fixed-line operator Retevision, called Retevision Movil-owned in part by Telecom Italia and Spain’s electric company Endesa-and the Lince consortium, led by France Telecom and Spanish banking group Santander.
Telecom Italia has expressed confidence in winning the license in published news reports, although the Lince consortium recently won the third fixed-line license for Spain. France Telecom’s Wind consortium also recently won the license for Italy’s third mobile phone system.
A Spanish financial newspaper reported that Telecom Italia is considering increasing its investment portion of Retevision.
