The unique Barça Mobile cards

BarcelonaAt the beginning of April, Barça's executive president, Joan Laporta, together with the his Moldovan partner Ruslan Birladeanu, presented Barça Mobile, the club's new mobile operator. With the launch, Birladeanu announced what will be the brand's first line of business: Global Travel eSIM, a virtual mobile card for calls and internet, designed for travel. However, once the platform was launched, there was a significant paradox: while the presentation had assured that the product would work on the MasOrange network—also a partner in the project—Movistar appeared on its website as the only network provider in Spain. As ARA has been able to confirm, the reason is that New Era Visionary Group, the Moldovan businessman's parent company, did not actually create this product, but instead uses eSIMs from the Indian company Zetexa Global Private Limited.

Thus, although Joaquín Colino, B2B director of MasOrange, was present at the Barça Mobile presentation, they actually had nothing to do with the launch. The company that emerged from the merger between MasMóvil and Orange has confirmed this to ARA, although Barça's statement stated that the new eSIMs would operate "on the Orange network." Sources at New Era have also confirmed this. Zetexa Global Private Limited is not mentioned in the press release for the presentation, nor in Barça Mobile's terms and conditions or privacy policy. In other words, the Barça brand serves the product as if it were a white label.

Furthermore, legal sources consulted by this newspaper emphasize that, once a Barça Mobile eSIM is purchased, no commercial relationship is established with Barça, but rather with a company domiciled in Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates: New Era Visionary Group FZ-LLC. Therefore, as detailed on the platform, any claim will be governed "by and in accordance with the laws of the United Arab Emirates." It should be remembered that this same parent company is the one that paid 28 million euros to Barça to operate a few dozen seats VIP of the future Camp Nou. New Era has no known plans with companies other than Barça.

Three parallel agreements

And what role does MasOrange play in all this? The telephone company is a partner key to all of New Era's projects, and this has raised concerns at its headquarters. According to sources close to the MasOrange leadership, Birladeanu, who was accused of real estate fraud in Moldova, has been a pro-Russian activist and has no prior experience in the world of telecommunications, has created divisions, and some executives have not welcomed the link. This has slowed down the last remaining contract they had to sign: the one granting the option to operate over the fiber network, vital when launching a telephone operator like Barça Mobile. However, company sources indicate that this has changed in recent days and has now been signed.

When a company wants to launch an operator, it has two options to provide fiber: either make a large capital investment and begin laying cables to create its own network, or negotiate with one that already has one deployed. These contracts establish a fixed amount for each year of use and a margin based on the profits obtained from operating it. Furthermore, not everything is negotiated together: there is the network that provides mobile coverage and the fiber network, which brings internet to homes. This latter is the one that has so far delayed the launch of the future operator.

What has been completely sealed for months is the link between MasOrange and New Era regarding the installation of the 5G connectivity antennas at the new Camp Nou. The fact is that Birladeanu's company, a newly created company without the necessary structure to implement them, won the tender to install the infrastructure ahead of companies such as Cellnex and Telefónica, specialists in the sector. The award meant that a third partner had to be found that did have the necessary tools to carry out the project: MasOrange. According to sources in the sector, the association ended up raising the value of the tender to more than 15 million euros, although it was initially expected to have an impact on the accounts of around 12 million euros.

New Era Visionary Group, as confirmed by company sources to ARA, actually has a dozen employees, although at its launch it was reported that its workforce was sixty people. However, the same sources suggest that the initial sum was including collaborators. Its business is based on the exploitation of the Barça brand and has no other clients on a global scale.

New Era's response to the ARA report:

Travel eSIM: To guarantee this global coverage and a top quality service in more than 170 countries, Barça Mobile has a contract with a partner A specialized international network that allows access to multiple networks in each country. Exactly, just like any other virtual network operator offering this type of service. The parent company is the company for legal purposes.

Disagreements over fiber contracts: The contract between MasOrange and New Era to provide fiber and data services is closed and signed.

Company employees: This information has never changed. The company has always stated that it currently employs 60 people, with a core of 12 people who are physically present at the business in Spain.