Vodafone Spain is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group plc, a British multinational telecommunications company, and operates as a telecommunications network in Spain. The company was initially launched in 1985 as Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd, a joint venture between Racal Electronics and Millicom. Vodafone became a fully owned brand of Racal in 1986. In 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics and became the Vodafone Group. Vodafone Group has undergone several changes in its corporate structure and ownership since its inception. In 1999, it completed the purchase of American service provider AirTouch Communications and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. Later, it reverted back to its original name, Vodafone Group plc, in 2000. The company's largest single shareholder is Etisalat by e&, which owns 14% of Vodafone's shares and has expressed interest in increasing its stake to 20%.
Alias
Vodafone España, S.A.U.
Country
Spain
Type
Mobile Network Operator
Ownership
Vodafone Group
Vodafone Albania Logo

3G Network

The company launched its 3G network in June 2006 over the B1 (2100 MHz) band.

Network Frequency Band Status
B1 (2100 MHz)
Active
B8 (900 MHz)
Active
Date Event Subtype
Launch of 3G Network
Launch

4G Network

The company's 4G LTE network was launched in May 2013 using the B3 (1800 MHz) and B7 (2600 MHz) bands, initialy in Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Seville and Valencia. 2C Carrier Aggregation of the two bands was implemented by October 2014, reaching peak data rates of 300 Mbps using LTE-Advanced. LTE-Advanced service was extended to Seville, Bilbao, Malaga, Zaragoza and La Coruña by December 2014. 

B20 (800 MHz) spectrum was introduced in January 2015. B1 spectrum was also used for LTE service. In February 2016 Vodafone announced 3C Carrier Aggregation enabling data rates up to 400 Mbps. With the addition of 20 MHz of B38 TDD spectrum 600 Mbps service was available to users in selected areas of Madrid, using LTE-Advanced Pro technology with 4x4 MIMO.

Vodafone launched NB-IoT using B20 in January 2017 commencing in Valencia and Madrid. Coverage was extended to Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga and Seville by end March 2017, with nationwide coverage achieved shortly after. VoLTE was commercially launched on July 7, 2015.

4G Frequency Bands
Network Frequency Band Max. Channel Bandwidth Status Known EARFCNs
B1 (2100 MHz)
10
Active
401
B3 (1800 MHz)
20
Active
1501
B7 (2600 MHz)
20
Active
3250
B20 (800 MHz)
10
Active
6300
B28 (700 MHz)
20
Active
9360
B38 (2600 MHz)
20
Active
Date Event Subtype
Launch of 4G Network
Launch

5G Network

Vodafone Spain partnered with Huawei to perform ‘the first 5G call in the world’ in February 2018. The call between Castelldefels in Barcelona and Madrid adhered to the standard commercial specifications approved by industry standards body 3GPP in December 2017, and utilised spectrum in the 3.7GHz band. The test also demonstrated a ‘dual 4G-to-5G connection’, which the companies say will be an important facet of 5G network technology, assisting with the control and management of data traffic.

The company announced the commercial launch of its 5G network in June 2019. The network uses Vodafone's 90 MHz of 3.5 GHz spectrum, implementing a n78 (3500 MHz) capable of reaching data rates of 1 Gbps at launch and 2.2 Gbps by years end. n28 (700 MHz) was added in January 2022.

Network Frequency Band Max. Channel Bandwidth Status
n28 (700 MHz)
20
Active
n78 (3500 MHz)
90
Active
Date Event Subtype
Launch of 5G Network
Launch