SPANISH PHONE OPERATORS
Telephone and Mobile services in Spain are quite good in comparison to most European countries. The fact that the annual World Mobile Congress is held in Barcelona gives evidence of this, since more and more people from across the globe attend this event every year.
Telefonica is the the national provider of landline telephone and mobile services. Internet services however can be obtained from other providers, but the landline itself will still be installed and maintained by Telefonica. Since it is an ex-state service which claims 80% of the market share, there are many people who still use Telefonica by habit, even though their rates are higher than the competition.
However, Telefonica is the only company in Spain that is authorized to actually install a phone line. They will send a technician to your home to connect the line for you. After that, you are free to choose your favorite internet provider to come and set up your connection. Before moving to a flat or house, it is always a good idea to confirm whether or not there is an existing line, because it can take quite a lot of time to have a technician come out and install or activate one. There is a monthly charge from Telefonica for the line of around 14 Euros per month, but usually the tariff from your internet provider is inclusive of this charge. As part of our relocation consultancy, we will gladly give you advice on what the best option would be to meet your requirements, and help you to contact the respective providers to get you online as soon as possible!
Some of the main competitors are :
Most of these companies require a “permanencia”, or a minimum subscription for 18 or 24 months. When your contract is nearing its end, you will need to inform them whether you would like to renew your contract, or move to another company. Lately some of them have however done away with the permanencia, in hopes of attracting more customers.
COST : Typically you can expect to pay between 20 and 60 Euros per month, depending on the connection speed, and if you select a TV-package (with many international channels). Your monthly bills can either be sent to you, or viewed online. As with most other utilities, you will probably just set up a direct debit for the monthly charge to come off your bank account. All the providers have one thing in common : all your local calls to land lines within Spain are free, and not charged additionally over and above your monthly charge. Of course there are premium rate numbers that start with 902, 901, or 905, so always be aware that you will be charged for these calls. To search for an alternative local number instead of having to phone the premium-rate number click HERE, and simply introduce the 902 number.
MOBILE SERVICES :
As with all other countries, the mobile provider industry in Spain is huge! With international names like Vodafone, Movistar and Orange, the infrastructure is well-established, and there is very good coverage in most of the country.
The ever-growing competition however has led to many smaller providers popping up, that offer very competitive packages and rates to their customers. You need to bear in mind however, than all of the smaller companies rely on this infrastructure of the bigger companies, often leading to a weaker signal and coverage (You get what you pay for). We have personally experienced this with one of the cheaper companies, and have eventually gone back to one of the 4 main providers that have their own infrastructure.
These providers are :
MOVISTAR (Telefonica)
Orange
Vodafone
Yoigo (owned by Scandinavian giant Teliasonera)
COST : If you consider yourself a “light” user, where you basically just need to have access to your email, facebook, and some browsing, you can expect to find a contract for about 10 Euros per month, that gives you phone calls at 2 cents per minute and 1GB of internet at maximum speed. Heavier users can expect to pay between 50 and 60 Euros per month, which will give them more than 2GB of internet and include 500 anytime minutes. In most cases you will have to pay a one-time fee for the handset, which could be quite expensive depending on the contract you opt for. If you prefer to buy a cheap phone for cash, there are many shops in Raval that offer mobile phones, accessories and sim cards at very low prices.