MADRID, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone aims
to play an active role in any consolidation of Spain's telecoms
industry, where lower competition would give operators the
financial muscle to pay for the 5G rollout, its local CEO Colman
Deegan said.
"At Vodafone, we want to play an active role in the process
of telecom consolidation in Spain," Deegan said in an op-ed
piece published by Expansion newspaper on Thursday.
He said the current state of the market had reduced
profitability and left providers without the financial capacity
to pay for the infrastructure needed to develop 5G technology.
Vodafone together with rivals such as Telefonica
and Orange have pressured the European Commission to
soften anti-trust rules to reduce competition in the industry.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; editing by Jason Neely)