Telefónica, Masorange and Vodafone resort to the spectrum charge for 430 million | Companies | EUROtoday

Telefónica, Masorange and Vodafone have sued the Government a considerable discount of the Radio Public area reserve, which is charged by the concession of the cell phone frequency band. The huge three telecos Spanish declare that the Canon is up to date, for which in 2024 they paid 430 million euros, in accordance with the reducing earnings suffered by the sector for greater than 15 years.

The charge, the biggest particular tax cost suffered by the telecommunications sector, throws an annual assortment of about 540 million euros, of which round 80% are accountable for the three operators. The relaxation is paid by different telecommunications firms, tv chains and firms that use frequencies, corresponding to Aena.

The channel to implement its declare has been totally different in accordance with the instances. Telefónica and Vodafone have filed an attraction earlier than the Central Administrative Economic Court (TEAC), an unbiased physique assigned to the Ministry of Finance. For its half, Masorange has resorted to the Ministry for Digital Transformation, in accordance with sources identified to the method.

The employer Digital, which brings collectively telecommunications firms, already requested throughout their basic meeting on the finish of 2024 to the federal government to advertise regulatory adjustments for the revision of the reserve charge of the radio house. The demand, within the presence of the Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar López, was estimated at a discount of not less than 30% of the speed. The employer appealed to the decision Shapeless dragons which contained that requirement that the sector be deregulated and tax hundreds within the European Union be lightened to handle pressing adjustments that increase digital infrastructure.

Companies use as the principle argument of the discount request of their sources the collapse of their earnings and profitability in recent times, which has not been mirrored in decrease tax stress. On the opposite, it has grown as the brand new cell telephony requirements (2g, 3g-pouts, 4g and 5G) had been carried out. To cowl these new generations of cell telephony, firms have elevated the variety of base stations by 150% the place the antennas are situated, with the resultant expense, and have elevated using frequency bands.

In distinction, retailing of the telecommunications sector has been decreased by a 3rd since 2010, of the 28.4 billion euros at 19,245 million entered in 2023, in accordance with the newest out there knowledge of the CNMC. The fall is even greater if solely cell telephony is taken into account, which is the one which helps the fee of the spectrum charge. Thus, cell communications revenues have gone from 14,023 million euros in 2010 to eight,223 million in 2023.

Telecommunications operators belief that the Treasury be receptive to their arguments. Movistar, Vodafone and Orange acquired the federal government since 2023, below the intermediation of the previous Minister of Economics, Nadia Calviño, exempt them from paying the 0.9% charge of their earnings to finance RTVE, a burden that the manager of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) imposed to free public tv promoting, and that’s unpublished within the EU. In 2022, this taxation rose to 98.9 million euros, already 113.5 million in 2021 within the case of telecommunications operators, since additionally they endure from non-public televisions and platforms of streaming.

Despite this elimination, there’s the circumstance that the RTVE Source of Revenue Source after the direct subsidy of the General State Budgets. In 2023, he obtained 478.5 million euros for this idea, and 410 million in every of the earlier two years. Calviño granted a short lived discount of this charge topic to investments in 5G. But the exit of the previous authorities vice chairman to be president of the European Investment Bank has cooled relations with the Executive.

Ship within the United Kingdom

Companies additionally assert the instance of the discount of this charge within the United Kingdom brought on by the of the Regulator ofcom that features a 21 % discount in charges for the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectra and a 12 % enhance for the 2100 MHz band, which is anticipated to save lots of on the operators about 40 million kilos per 12 months.

The tax burden on this charge is so costly that Vodafone resigned from 10 MHz within the 3.5 GHz (gigahemer) band that Masorange gave it freed from cost for the deployment of 5G cell telephony. The operator, now managed by Zegona, refused to just accept the present resulting from his price discount plan, which leads him to reduce the funding. And though these frequencies in precept had been free, their property would drive them to pay yearly the speed for the radio spectrum, so he has chosen to reject that task, in accordance with this newspaper.

The different Spanish operator who has radio frequencies is Digi, who obtained 20 MHz within the 3,500 MHz band as a treatment imposed by the European Commission to approve the fusion of MasMóvil and Orange to provide rise to Masorange. However, Digi has not but obtained these frequencies, so he is not going to pay the speed till 2026.