Telefónica’s O2 and Vodafone stepped up their challenge to
British market leader BT by extending their network-sharing deal to
cover 5G, and to enable them accelerate the deployment of the faster
mobile service at a lower cost.
The two groups said on Wednesday they
would share the fibre that runs
between their individual core networks and jointly owned masts to
improve their offering.
However, they will become more autonomous in major cities, giving the
two firms the freedom to decide how much they invest in equipment to
boost data capacity, while they could also seek a third party to take a
stake in the joint venture at a later date.
“We believe these plans will generate significant benefits
for our business and our customers as we move into the digital era of
connected devices, appliances and systems on a mass scale,” Vodafone UK
CEO Nick Jeffery said.
The two companies formed a joint venture in 2012 to help share the
cost of rolling out faster networks as customers sought ever more data
to access the internet from their phones.
They said on Thursday they would explore “a potential monetisation”
of the joint venture after the new arrangements have been finalised.
- Reuters
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