Vodafone eyes Italian 5G network collaboration
By Oliver Haill
Date: Friday 22 Feb 2019
(Sharecast News) - Vodafone's Italian arm has agreed to enter into a network sharing partnership for both 4G and 5G with Telecom Italia, with both companies also weighing a merger of their 22,000 towers in the country.
Vodafone Italia and Telecom Italia said they intend to enter into an active network sharing partnership for 5G and are considering a similar sharing partnership for 4G, as well as expanding their existing passive sharing agreement to enable faster deployment of 5G over a wider geographic area at a lower cost.
The companies have signed an MoU and agreed to enter into exclusive discussions, which also will encompass co-operation on the upgrade of their respective fibre transmission networks and the possible combination of their mobile towers into a single entity.
Vodafone said the active sharing project would support a faster roll-out of 5G over a wider geographic area, at a lower cost. Likewise, extending the current passive sharing agreement, which covers roughly 10,000 sites, would also "accelerate and enhance" the 5G roll-out in urban and rural areas.
An upgrade of both companies' mobile transmission networks would see higher-capacity optical fibre cables added, known as backhauling, to enable customers to benefit from 5G and providing both companies with greater economies of scale.
A potential towers combination "would be structured in a way that would be expected to be value accretive to all the parties involved", Vodafone said, and over time, the pair would look at moving active network equipment from third-party towers to the infrastructure of the new entity.
Aldo Bisio, CEO of Vodafone Italia, said: "This partnership will allow us to generate significant benefits for our customers and other stakeholders, who will be able to enjoy the best 5G experience, made available in a shorter period of time and across a wider geographical area. 5G represents a technological breakthrough that will have a profound impact on society, and that requires investment, efficiency and a rapid rollout. This has led us to broaden the scope of our existing successful partnership."
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