Avatel Telecom, the fifth telecommunications operator in Spain, has communicated this Wednesday to the legal representation of its workers the intention to initiate a new collective dismissal procedure (ERE). This measure comes just a year and a half after the company executed
As reported by the operator in a statement, the decision is based on the “delicate economic situation” that the firm is going through. Avatel points to an “especially complex and highly competitive” market environment that is reducing profitability and putting the long-term sustainability of the business at risk. The company does not clarify the scope of the adjustment that will be communicated soon to the unions.
The objective of this new period of consultations, which will begin in the coming weeks, is to negotiate the exit conditions and reach an agreement that guarantees the viability of the business project.
This announcement has generated deep concern among the workforce, who still remember the traumatic process experienced in 2024. At that time, the company initiated an ERE that initially affected 849 people (almost 45% of the workforce), although after intense negotiations with the unions (UGT, Fetico and CC OO), the figure was finally reduced to 674 workers. That adjustment, definitively closed in July 2024, resulted in compensation of 33 days per year worked, seniority bonuses of between 300 and 2,000 euros and external relocation plans and protections for vulnerable groups.
The Avatel crisis is not new. The operator based its growth on an extremely aggressive strategy, purchasing more than 150 local operators in a few years. This uncontrolled expansion generated critical duplications in jobs and an oversized internal structure that the company has attempted to correct without complete success to date. The company has committed to providing additional information as negotiations with social representation progress, always respecting the established legal deadlines.
Although the adjustment at the end of 2024 sought to leave a “leaner and more efficient” structure to facilitate a possible sale or merger, this Wednesday’s announcement suggests that the previous measures were not enough to stop the economic bleeding in a sector where the price war does not give up. These days precisely, the deadlines have been opened for people to voluntarily sign up for the Telefónica ERE, which contemplates the departure of a minimum of 4,525 employees, although the framework agreement allows this figure to be extended to 5,500 if voluntariness requires it.
This announcement also occurs at a critical moment for the company, which only in mid-2025 experienced a drastic change in its ownership structure after the takeover by one of its founders, Víctor Rodríguez, who through Vaiia Kapital holds 60% of the shareholding together with the Inveready fund, which owns the remaining 40% after the definitive departure of the other founding partners, Jorge Gómez and Ignacio Aguirre. Although this new stage under the command of Rodríguez and Inveready began with a significant capital injection of almost 100 million euros and an ambitious restructuring plan based on the sale of strategic assets, such as towers and fiber networks worth 165 million, the results seem not to have been enough to stabilize a structure that was highly stressed after years of aggressive expansion in which more than 150 local operators were acquired.
