Movistar is several steps ahead of MásOrange and Vodafone in terms of the deployment of fast 5G in our country. In fact, if we look at the data for the last five quarters, we can see how the operator has installed almost 4,000 nodes in the 3.5 GHz band , compared to a thousand, or even less, for each of its rivals.
In the deployment of fast 5G in our country, it seems that Movistar has no rival. Or at least that is what the latest data that has been given regarding the installation of nodes for the 3.5 GHz band suggests . It must be taken into account that this band is the one that aims to be the life support of the new mobile standard, in addition to being the one that offers the most speed and capacity today compared to the rest of the bands. However, of the three large operators, the blue operator has a significant advantage over MásOrange and Vodafone .
More 5G deployment in 3.5 GHz
As the last few months have passed, Movistar continues to be at the forefront of deploying the fastest 5G network. If already during the previous year it took advantage of MásOrange (at that time Orange) and Vodafone in the installation of more nodes for the 3.5 GHz band, the first quarter of 2024 has not been different.
The pace of the operator has not slowed down, and continues with the idea of following the same steps as last year: a rapid pace for the deployment of this fifth generation mobile network, precisely in this band. To have a clearer idea, Movistar has installed three times more antennas in this 3.5 GHz band than its two direct competitors, which are among the large operators in our country.
During the first quarter of this year, Telefónica managed to install almost 550 5G antennas in this frequency band, compared to MásOrange’s 197 antennas (Orange only) and Vodafone’s 195. So there is a notable difference between these operators.
The difference with MásOrange and Vodafone
Movistar ‘s advantage is better understood if the data on nodes deployed from the beginning of 2023 (January) to March 2024 is known. In just one year and three months, the blue operator had 3,812 new nodes for this mobile band. However, none of its rivals reached 1,000 new nodes: 967 for Orange and 944 for Vodafone .
In total, if we take into account the nodes deployed between the 3 operators, they add up to 5,793 nodes in the last 15 months. That is, from January of last year until March of this 2024. However, it is clear that the Spanish operator is in front, since it has 66% of the total, compared to 16.9% for MásOrange and 16 .5% of the red operator. So, with these new deployments, the 3.5 GHz antennas are as follows: Movistar with 4,499 antennas , 2,129 from MásOrange and 1,478 from Vodafone. Therefore, the Telefónica operator is fully exploiting the new 5G standard, since the 3.5 GHz band is the one in which these three large operators have the most spectrum .
