Orange beats Yoigo in race to launch 4G in Spain

MADRID, May 10 (Reuters) - France Telecom's Orange will launch superfast mobile Internet in Spain on July 8 in sixcities, making it the first to make 4G services widely availablein the country and beating rival Yoigo by a matter ofdays.

Faster mobile Internet, or 4G, may give Orange andTeliaSonera's Yoigo an edge in Spain's cut-throat mobile phonemarket, where the two biggest players, Telefonica andVodafone have lost share to cheaper rivals over the pastyear.

Orange and Yoigo have increased their market share in thecountry, which has the highest smartphone penetration in theEuropean Union, ahead of Britain. The attractions of fastermobile Internet may help them win new customers.

4G services, already available in several other Europeancountries, make it easier and quicker to watch television andmake video calls on mobile handsets.

But in Britain, the first network to launch 4G, EE, owned byFrance Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, failed to stem adrop in service revenue despite attracting 318,000 customers tothe service in five months.

Yoigo, the fourth-biggest operator, said earlier this weekit would be the first to offer 4G in Spain, with a July 18launch date and no additional cost for subscribers with 3Gservices.

Orange had previously said it would introduce 4G in thethird quarter, without specifying a date. The company declinedto say if the service would be offered at the same cost as 3G.

Orange's 4G services will be available to 12 millionSpaniards in 15 cities by the end of 2013 and all provincialcapitals will be covered by end-2014, the company said onFriday.

Orange's investment in the rollout of 4G services, includingprevious work to upgrade its network and the purchase ofspectrum, would total 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion), it said.

It is not known when Telefonica and Vodafone will launch 4Gin Spain. Vodafone has carried out a pilot for 4G andTelefonica, which plans to make superfast mobile Internetavailable in Brazil and Britain this year, said it was ready toquickly roll out the service in Spain according to market needsand company strategy.