Short and simple: Madrid’s Sol Metro station regains its original name
Three-year sponsorship deal that saw the stop renamed “Vodafone Sol” has come to an end

For the last three of its 97-years, Madrid’s iconic Sol Metro station has borne the prefix Vodafone, but as of today the busy transit point in the heart of the Spanish capital regains its original name.
On Tuesday evening, after the contract with the UK cellphone company expired, workers began replacing the “Vodafone Sol” signage throughout the station, which handles around 60,000 passengers a day, a process that will take around a week.
The deal with Vodafone netted the regional government of Madrid €3 million, a 10% increase in advertising revenue from the city’s Metro network, but also prompted protests from many Madrid metro users, already bemused at a previous sponsorship deal with Samsung that saw the station renamed Sol Samsung Galaxy Note in 2012.
English version by Nick Lyne.
Sign up for our newsletter
EL PAÍS English Edition is launching a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here.







































