Report

The Spain ICT Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period. One of Spain's fastest-growing industries over the past ten years has been ICT. Digitalization is critical to changing the country's production model and accelerating its post-pandemic economic recovery.

Key Highlights
Spain's ICT industry rebounded fast from the recent global health crisis and benefited from the push for digital transformation made possible by EU recovery funds. Spain is one of the largest economies in the EU, and the private sector continues to provide the promising potential for sector-specific solutions. American businesses are acknowledged as essential suppliers of cutting-edge goods and services.
The advancement of Spain's backbone fiber networks and mobile networks' equipment upgrades would be influenced by the country's 5G National Plan. Spanish telecoms are expanding its company by utilizing its extensive client base to offer insurance, alarms, mobile sales, and energy. Notably, the Spanish government established the Digital Strategy 2025 in 2020, intending to promote the country's digital transformation through, among other things, increased cybersecurity, digital public administrations, and the adoption of artificial intelligence technology.
Spain's information technology (IT) industry has undergone tremendous expansion. Still, there needs to be more trained, experienced IT personnel to satisfy the expanding demand, particularly in the larger cities, which account for most of Spain's IT market. This indicates that, despite having greater expectations, there is a danger of mediocre project execution along with exceptional project experience.
Data center investment in Spain is driven by digital transformation and cloud adoption. AWS, IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle are some of the major technology companies that have made announcements in the previous two years about opening cloud computing centers in the nation. The Spanish Association of Data Centers estimates that USD 6.72 million would be spent on establishing data centers in Madrid. Additionally, there are opportunities in various fields like cybersecurity, focusing on zero-trust methodologies and organizational resilience in the Spanish ICT industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the Spanish national economy. Large portions of the population have been forced to spend almost constantly at home because of the pandemic, raising the need for remote work, telemedicine, online education, and streaming in-home entertainment. Business hours and bandwidth usage increased as the country adjusted to life with Covid-19. Digital networks aided in the resistance and ultimately led to sustained growth.


Spain ICT Market Trends

Telecommunication is a Major Growing Sector


One sector of the economy that has permanently altered the globe is telecommunications, which has made it possible for people to stay connected. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused a slight decline in income, but the Spanish telecoms industry appears to be back on the upward trend. The Spanish telecom industry brought in EUR 34.4 billion (USD 36.7) in revenue last year, making it one of the most prominent figures in the previous ten years.
Smartphones have evolved beyond being only personal communication tools. Further, starting in 2023, it's anticipated that there will be more than 40 million smartphone users in Spain. Mobile devices and smartphone applications are becoming increasingly prevalent, which attests to their essential relevance in our day-to-day lives. Mobile browsers, email clients, social media platforms, and messaging apps are some of the most popular smartphone applications in the nation.
With a market share of 28.5% as of June last year, the Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi maintained its lead over both Apple and the Korean tech behemoth Samsung as the most widely used smartphone brand in Spain. With more than 60% of Spanish smartphone users using their services, Telefonica, which operates as Movistar in Spain, and Vodafone, Orange, and Jazztel, are the most significant mobile providers.
In Spain, there were more than 119 mobile phone subscribers for every 100 residents as of May last year. According to many studies, 20% of mobile phone users reported using their cell phones for longer than four hours daily. The adoption of 5G technology has coincided with a rise in smartphone usage and income. More than one-third of all mobile connections in Spain in 2021 were 5G connections. The use of smartphones and network technologies will continue to be influenced by future technological advancements in Spain and globally.
The announcement that Orange and Masmovil, Yoigo's parent company, have signed a contractual deal to integrate their operations in Spain is the most recent move in the country's 5G sector. They estimate that the sale would be completed at the latest in the second half of the current year, keeping in mind that antitrust authorities must approve the transaction.
With a share of over 34% of the cell phone numbers allocated in Spain in the previous year, Telefonica Moviles was the country's leading mobile provider. With around 24.5% of all mobile phone numbers assigned in Spain that year, the British mobile network provider Vodafone came in second.


Rapid Developments on Digital 2025


Digital Spain 2025 is one of several government initiatives, including the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan and the SME Digitization Plan, that are targeted at encouraging small and medium-sized businesses and independent contractors to embrace digital solutions.
An essential element of the nation's digitalization and territorial, social, and environmental cohesion is connectivity, made possible by infrastructure networks that allow adequate data transmission between citizens, businesses, and the government.
Connectivity is also the key to ensuring that the entire population has access to the benefits and opportunities that come with it. The first and most important phase in developing the digital society is the provision of infrastructure and competent, secure, capillary networks, which provide a high-quality connection.
With direct connections to four continents via international telecommunications networks, a top-notch electrical network, and a favorable geographic location that makes it the digital gateway to Europe, Spain is in a good position to solidify its position as a global connectivity center.
In terms of very high-capacity networks, Spain stands out. Although they still exist, the contrasts between rural and urban regions are becoming less pronounced. 99.9% of inhabited places have 4G coverage. The Plan for Connectivity and Digital Infrastructures and the Strategy to Boost 5G Technology, a plan whose objective is for the whole population to have a connection faster than 100 Mbps by 2025, is underway to turn the situation around.
Businesses need to utilize technology like artificial intelligence, big data, or cloud services. However, 62% of Spanish SMEs have at least a basic degree of digital intensity, and 24% have embraced e-commerce. The SME Digitalization Plan 2021-2025 has five main lines of action (basic digitalization for SMEs, support for digital change management, promotion of disruptive innovation and digital entrepreneurship, support for sectoral digitalization (with a focus on industry, tourism, and commerce), coordination and efficiency) is the response to improve this situation.


Spain ICT Market Competitor Analysis

The Spain ICT market is at a fragmented stage as the market currently consists of many players. Several key players in the ICT market are in constant efforts to bring advancements. A few prominent companies are entering into collaborations and expanding their footprints in developing regions to consolidate their positions in the market. The major players are Orange Espagne S.A.U., Vodafone Espana, Telefonica, IBM Corporation, Indra Sistemas, S.A., and many others.


In October 2022, Indra Sistemas, S.A., Spain, formed a strategic alliance with Centum Electronics Limited, India, to work solely on advanced, cutting-edge radar systems and technology for the Indian government. The fabrication and installation of the radar for use in space applications are contemplated under the MoU. Long-range radar is designed to find, follow, and analyze space objects and debris hundreds of kilometres away.
In September 2022, Oracle unveiled the creation of the first Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) region in Spain to address the country's quickly expanding demand for business cloud services. With the opening of the new area in Madrid, Oracle's public and private sector clients and partners in Spain would have access to a variety of cloud services that may help them update their applications, experiment with data and analytics, and move mission-critical workloads from their data centers to OCI.


Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support