Eamonn O’Hare, CEO of Zegona (the owner of Vodafone Spain), has confirmed to Expansion which is in talks with Orange and Telefónica to create a RANco, a mobile network joint venture in the style of the fibercos which launched in 2025.
Why is it important. Spain has three large operators managing three national mobile networks with identical fixed costs, but Orange and Telefónica have double Vodafone’s customers. This asymmetry makes Vodafone’s mobile network, comparatively, inefficient.
A RANco would allow sharing infrastructure, reducing expenses and improving quality without eroding profitability.
The context. Vodafone has multiplied its share price by 12 in 20 months after reducing costs and close two fibercos that generated 2.2 billion in value. The share went from 345 pence (things from the London stock market) when they bought Vodafone Spain to more than 1,565 pence now, and has returned 1,400 million in dividends to its shareholders.
It now trades at 9 times its cash flow when its competitors do so at 13 times. The RANco is the missing piece to close that gap.
How a RANco works. A RANco is a wholesale mobile network company shared between operators that provides services to its owners. It is similar to fibercos: the network is unified, synergies are captured and a minority stake is sold to an international investor.
Vodafone pays 150 million annually to Vantage Towers for towers at double the market price. With the RANco, those costs are divided.
Two possible scenarios:
- With Orange: easier to execute and attract investors, but fewer synergies because they already share a network in some areas.
- With Telefónica: more synergies by not having anything shared, but more complex to incorporate a financial partner.
The calendar. O’Hare puts the closure of RANco within a year and a half. And in November 2028, the window opens to abandon the contract with Vantage Towers.
Vodafone has already made a decision: either Vantage reduces its rates by 50% or terminates the agreement.
Yes, but. Mergers between operators are not on the table. O’Hare rules out short-term purchases or sales because the regulatory risk is “too great” and would distract the group from its three priorities:
- Align your stock valuation with the competition.
- Reach 1,000 million in cash flow.
- And develop the RANco.
The figures. Vodafone Spain generated 400 million in cash flow when Zegona bought it. Last year it reached 600 million. This year it will be close to 800 million. The goal is to reach 1,000 million in the coming years.
At stake. The RANco is not just a financial movement. Turning off the cable network will take three or four years migrating customers to fiber. Small operators will disappear, devoured by Digi and Finetwork. And Vodafone keeps open a possible IPO in Spain within three or four years, when it would complete its transformation.
The shadow of Telefónica. As published Populi Voice A few days ago, Telefónica began talks to buy Vodafone Spain and close the operation in the first half of 2026. But a RANco with Orange or with Telefónica itself, in addition to O’Hare’s own interview, would change the equation: Vodafone would enter that negotiation with shared infrastructure and long-term contracts that would make the purchase more expensive or directly unviable. Zegona negotiates the RANco also as a policy.
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