5G Data Traffic Surges 61% in Spain Despite Flat Sector Revenues

Image: A stacked bar chart titled “Cuota de mercado por ingresos minoristas” shows market shares for four telecom providers from 2024 to 2026. Each bar is divided by company—Movistar, Vodafone, MASORANGE, and DIGI—with percentages labelled within segments a · Source

Spain's 5G mobile data traffic rose 61% year-on-year in Q2 2026, accounting for nearly a quarter of total mobile data use, while telecom sector revenues remained steady at €5.65 billion.

Mobile broadband consumption in Spain continues to grow rapidly, driven largely by expanding 5G usage, yet revenues for telecom operators have shown little change. According to the Spanish National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC), mobile broadband traffic reached 2.8 million terabytes in the second quarter of 2026, a significant increase over prior periods. However, retail service revenues stood at €5.648 billion, remaining almost unchanged compared to the same quarter in 2025.

The data reveals that 5G now accounts for 24.6% of all mobile data traffic in Spain, marking an annual growth of 61.1% for the second quarter. The 5G network currently supports 26.9 million lines and includes 43,583 sites—comprising over 20% of the country's mobile base stations. Notably, more than 70% of 5G traffic is carried through the networks of MasOrange and Telefónica.

Overall mobile traffic increased by 17% year-on-year, summing up to 64.2 million mobile lines, with approximately 90% of these subscribers having internet connectivity. Despite the growing demand and the concomitant need for network investment, retail sector revenues have not shown significant growth, hovering near €5.657 billion from the previous year.

Revenue breakdown across operators shows variability: Movistar (Telefónica) remains the revenue leader with 36.3% of retail earnings but posted a 2.4% decline in revenue year-on-year. Orange España (MasOrange) holds second place with 28.4%, Vodafone increased revenues by 1.1% to capture 13.7%, and Digi saw a notable 14.4% revenue growth, representing 4.4% of the total and accounting for 12.5% of mobile lines. Collectively, these four operators account for 82.8% of retail revenues and 96.8% of mobile lines in Spain.

On fixed networks, fiber to the home (FTTH) adoption is widespread, with 91.4% of broadband lines using FTTH as of June 2026. There are 81.5 million FTTH access points out of 89.1 million new generation access lines (NGA). Among the 20 million fixed broadband connections, 19.5 million provide speeds of at least 100 Mbps, and 8.1 million support 1 Gbps or higher—over 40% of connections at the 100 Mbps threshold. The four major operators dominate 93.9% of fixed broadband lines.

These figures illustrate a vibrant Spanish telecom market with increasing 5G adoption and fiber connectivity, though sector revenues have plateaued despite greater data consumption. The dynamics suggest intense competition and possible pricing pressures in the market, alongside substantial investment in newer network technologies.