Spain’s Euskaltel has embarked on its national expansion plan. Employing the brand Virgin telco, it aims to eventually reach the 85% of the Spanish market it does not currently operate in.
Speaking in a virtual press conference, Euskaltel Group’s CEO, José Miguel García described the move as “a landmark event in the Euskaltel Group’s history and for telecommunications in Spain also. 20 years ago, a dream was set in motion with a group of innovative thinkers and today we take yet another step forward by including Virgin as a Group brand. Our customers should be proud to be a part of this piece of history and to know that they will always have access to the best telecommunications services”.
The expansion through Virgin telco outside Euskaltel’s local regions – the Basque Country, Galicia and Asturias, where the Euskaltel, Telecable and R brands operate, respectively – is the cornerstone of the group’s 2020-2025 Business Plan. By its completion, services will be offered to a total of 18.4 million homes.
With regards the national market where Euskaltel will now operate, the García added: “Euskaltel is the only national operator with its decision-making centre outside Madrid, holding on to its roots in the regions where it started out”.
Euskatel says that the expansion plan will enable it to access new profitable growth opportunities on which it can base the company’s positive growth in customers and profitability. It is confident that by 2025, half of its customers will be located in the new Spanish regions targeted by the launch of Virgin telco and it hopes that its 2019 revenues will have doubled, up from €685 million to €1.3 billion. The group is certain that in five years, 40% of its total revenue will come from the Virgin telco business, i.e. around €520 million.
The Euskaltel Group expects the move to expand nationally will more than double the current customer base both in terms of fixed and mobile services. It expects to multiply its current fixed services customer base by 2.3 to over 1.5 million customers, taking on around 800,000 new fixed service customers from the markets included in the expansion strategy.
Contracts for mobile services are also expected to exceed 3 million in 2025, compared to the current 1 million, almost tripling the current number of mobile services provided to users.