Report: Vodafone to keep Spain’s Ono as a separate company

Vodafone will reportedly keep its 2014-acquired Spanish pay TV operator, Ono, as a separate company due to tax reasons.

In a statement published by Reuters, a Vodafone spokesperson said that “the tax burden the integrated company would have to contend with would be a lot higher than if the two companies remained separate.”

This follows a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling relating to a land tax imposed by Madrid’s city council on telecoms companies.

Vodafone completed its  €7.2 billion acquisition of cable operator Ono in 2014. Following the deal, the company said it planned to achieve €2 billion in synergies by migrating its fixed line customers, who were previously served via a wholesale agreement with Telefónica, to Ono’s fibre network.