MADRID, April 19 (Reuters) - France Telecom andVodafone have asked Spain's telecoms watchdog toconvince Telefonica to enter into negotiations overgranting them access to its infrastructure, which they need toroll out fast broadband.
France Telecom and Vodafone announced in March they wouldteam up to develop a fibre optic network that would bringsuperfast internet speeds to six million homes in Spain. Butthey need agreement from Telefonica to access connections intoindividual homes.
The two companies have failed to strike a deal with Europe'sbiggest telecoms operator in informal talks, and their chiefexecutives in Spain said in March Telefonica had been closed tonetwork sharing deals for reasons that were not clear to them.
A source at Vodafone said on Friday Telefonica had beenunwilling to negotiate.
"We have asked the regulator to make Telefonica enter intoimmediate negotiations to reach an agreement before June 1, 2013on reciprocal access to vertical fibre cables," the twocompanies said in a statement.
Both companies are struggling to compete with Telefonica'sfibre network and as the market shifts to convergent offersbundling internet with other services, Vodafone in particularhas come under pressure to acquire fixed assets in Europe.
In Spain, where one in four of the workforce is unemployedand mobile phone revenues are shrinking, operators face intensecompetition. Bundled "quadplay" packages are one way to retaincustomers, especially when faster speeds are offered.
A spokesman for Telefonica said the company was stillwilling to reach an agreement and would send a new proposal inthe coming days.
Telefonica is the market leader in fibre optic in Spain,with a network reaching 2.2 million homes. France Telecom's ownoffering, separate to its deal with Vodafone, will reach closeto 100,000 houses by the summer.
Vodafone (VOD)