Bankinter| Telefónica will close 5,800 exchanges that serve landlines and broadband via ADSL between 2023 and 2024, and will replace them with fibre optic exchanges. After the process, Telefónica (TEF) will have ~3,000 fibre-optic exchanges that will replace the ~8,000 that made up the copper network.
Opinion of Bankinter’s analysis team:
The programme, although planned, accelerates the cost savings and efficiency gains of running a single, more robust fibre network. This allows for more distant connections, which reduces real estate, energy and personnel costs. In addition, the group will free up significant real estate as many buildings will become redundant. Most of the copper has already been sold to Macquarie for EUR 200 million.
