MADRID, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Telefonica lost mobileclients in its Spanish home market in July for the 39th straightmonth, although it snapped up new lucrative optic fibrecontracts to maintain its quasi monopoly in that fast-growingbusiness.
Telefonica's continuous fall in mobile contracts comes ascompetitors Orange and Vodafone increasedtheir market share, which both recently announced the respectivetakeovers of Jazztel and ONO.
Telefonica had 16.42 million mobile clients in July,compared to Orange's 11.53 million and Vodafone's 11.5 million,data released on Friday by Spain's telecoms watchdog showed.
It is the first time Orange has overtaken Vodafone as thecountry's second-biggest mobile operator since the French grouparrived on the Spanish market in 2005.
The heated competition between the two could bring thespotlight back onto Teliasonera's Yoigo, currentlySpain's fourth-biggest operator with 3.4 million mobile clients,which was left out of the latest consolidation in the country.
Spain's telecoms market is however increasingly shiftingtowards high-speed Internet services which enable operators tosell bundled packages with fixed and mobile phones lines,Internet and television.
These so-called quadruple-play deals offer better marginsand help companies retain cash-strapped customers better.
Telefonica, which controls more than 91 percent of the opticfibre market, added about 75,000 new contracts in July to reach935,504 clients.
This compares to 89,552 clients for all other operatorscombined. (Reporting by Robert Hetz and Julien Toyer; editing by DavidEvans)