Euskaltel strikes deal to use new Orange fibre nets

Spanish regional cable operator Euskaltel Group has signed a new agreement with Orange to use bitstream to access at least 1.8 million of the three million homes that Orange plans to reach with a new fibre deployment plans scheduled to run to the end of 2023.

This deal is a step forward from the agreements signed with Orange at the end of 2019, when the regional player renewed and improved its wholesale agreements with Orange, both for fixed and mobile networks, improving the terms and extending the length of previous agreements.

The latest agreement is designed to enable Euskaltel to further take forward its national fibre coverage plan using the Orange network. Euskaltel will market services across Spain under the Virgin telco brand.

In April Euskaltel reported that it had already covered 13.5 million homes nationwide, using its own network and by accessing third-party networks – notably that of Orange. The Bilbao-based company plans to extend coverage to 18 million homes by the end of the second quarter of 2020.

Euskaltel, which is backed by UK-based Zegona Communications as its largest shareholder, currently operates mostly in the three northern Spanish regions of the Basque Country, Asturias and Galicia, where it operates under the Euskaltel, Telecable and R brands respectively.

National network coverage is a key element in the group’s expansion plans at national level, which were detailed at its Business Plan 2020-2025 presentation on March 10. In May the group unveiled its new brand, Virgin telco, through which it will undertake the national expansion.