Orange Espana has officially launched 5G mobile services in selected parts of five cities, namely: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Malaga. The network utilises spectrum in the 3.6GHz-3.8GHz band and connectivity is free of charge to users with 5G-capable handsets. Orange paid EUR132.1 million (USD156.2 million) for twelve 5MHz blocks in the 3.7GHz band back in July 2018.
TeleGeography notes that Vodafone Spain drew first blood in the 5G sector on 15 June 2019, when it launched commercial 5G services in 15 cities. For its part, Telefonica Espana (Movistar) launched its own 5G network on 1 September this year. Industry insiders expect fourth-placed player Grupo MASMOVIL to launch 5G services this month, via Orange’s infrastructure. Guaranteed 5G access was a condition of the national roaming agreement that MASMOVIL signed with Orange in October 2019.