Early March, AXA Im Alts, part of BNP Paribas Group, completed the 40% stake acquisition of FiberPass, a joint venture wholesale operator launched by Telefónica and Zegona Communications-owned Vodafone Spain a year ago. FiberPass covers around 3.7 million fiber premises with 1.4 million actual customers. Following the transaction, Telefónica retains a 55% majority stake, while Vodafone Spain’s shares fall to 5%. According to Zegona, this deal will enable Vodafone Spain to generate around €400M liquidity, aimed at funding a share buyback program and reducing debt. The latter has been Zegona’s main objective since the investment company bought Vodafone Spain in 2024. Centered around fiber, the strategy relies on partnerships with other telcos (like Telefonica) to keep nationwide fiber coverage, and with investors (such as AXA) to invest less heavily in infrastructure and monetize fiber assets. Indeed, with Spain being one of the most advanced fiber markets in Europe, as the switch-off of legacy copper networks was completed in 2025, the cost of maintaining and developing infrastructure has become a thorny issue for Spanish operators. Another example of Vodafone Spain’s asset-light strategy is the joint venture launched at the end of 2025 by Vodafone Spain, MasOrange and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. The newly formed entity combines part of both telecom operators’ fiber assets, and covers over 12 million premises and around 5 million subscribers. Besides extracting value from its assets, those deals should enable Vodafone Spain to pursue its progress on the retail side to guarantee lasting and sustainable customer growth.
