The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has approved the deregulation of the wholesale market for fixed call termination services, allowing operators to operate without the current regulatory obligations.

This decision comes after an analysis of the retail fixed telephony traffic market, which shows a significant decline in the use of fixed voice calls, with a 65% drop in residential traffic and a 35% drop in business traffic since 2020.

Telefónica holds the largest market share at 41%, followed by MASORANGE, a result of the merger between Orange and Masmóvil, with 29% market share.

The CNMC's analysis indicates that while each operator acts as a monopolist within its network, there is no risk of excessive pricing in the wholesale market due to the European Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654, which sets a maximum wholesale termination price of €0.07 per minute across the EU.

Furthermore, the CNMC does not foresee the likelihood of operators engaging in other anticompetitive practices, such as denial of access or discriminatory conditions. Should such practices occur, the CNMC has regulatory tools available to address them.

As a result of this comprehensive analysis and following public consultation, the CNMC will lift the existing obligations on operators within a six-month timeframe.