3GScottishUser
2nd March 2007, 08:27 AM
O2 looks to re-open T-Mobile talks
Mobile phone operator O2 is looking to reopen talks with rival T-Mobile about the two companies sharing their UK networks to reduce the cost of bringing high-speed wireless broadband to consumers.
The news, which came alongside figures showing both operators gaining customers in the last three months of 2006, follows plans by rivals Orange and Vodafone to share their nationwide 3G networks.
"We have to examine every opportunity to make sure we are as efficient as possible," explained Peter Erskine, O2 chief executive.
He said the company, owned by Spain's Telefonica, had talked with T-Mobile about sharing masts a few years back but worries over the regulator's attitude to such a move scuppered a deal. The two companies already co-operate in the German market.
A deal would help O2 roll-out its 3G network which is the smallest of the four original holders of UK mobile licences. It currently reaches 65% of the UK population and has to be at 80% by the end of the year.
Some analysts have suggested O2 could buy rival 3 to boost its network coverage, but Mr Erskine ruled out this idea.
"We are certainly visiting network sharing but I certainly would not think it likely that we are going to buy 3, in fact I think it's definite that we're not," he said.
The company is about to receive a cash windfall, however, with the sale of its Airwave business, that supplies mobile communications to the emergency services.
JP Morgan Cazenove has been appointed to handle the disposal and over a dozen companies are interested in bidding including private equity firms, infrastructure players and several telecom businesses.
O2 said it added 295,000 new customers in the last three months of 2006, up 10% on the previous year. T-Mobile added just under 235,000 new customers in the same period.
Virgin Mobile, in stark contrast, added just 11,100 in the same period.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2024561,00.html
Mobile phone operator O2 is looking to reopen talks with rival T-Mobile about the two companies sharing their UK networks to reduce the cost of bringing high-speed wireless broadband to consumers.
The news, which came alongside figures showing both operators gaining customers in the last three months of 2006, follows plans by rivals Orange and Vodafone to share their nationwide 3G networks.
"We have to examine every opportunity to make sure we are as efficient as possible," explained Peter Erskine, O2 chief executive.
He said the company, owned by Spain's Telefonica, had talked with T-Mobile about sharing masts a few years back but worries over the regulator's attitude to such a move scuppered a deal. The two companies already co-operate in the German market.
A deal would help O2 roll-out its 3G network which is the smallest of the four original holders of UK mobile licences. It currently reaches 65% of the UK population and has to be at 80% by the end of the year.
Some analysts have suggested O2 could buy rival 3 to boost its network coverage, but Mr Erskine ruled out this idea.
"We are certainly visiting network sharing but I certainly would not think it likely that we are going to buy 3, in fact I think it's definite that we're not," he said.
The company is about to receive a cash windfall, however, with the sale of its Airwave business, that supplies mobile communications to the emergency services.
JP Morgan Cazenove has been appointed to handle the disposal and over a dozen companies are interested in bidding including private equity firms, infrastructure players and several telecom businesses.
O2 said it added 295,000 new customers in the last three months of 2006, up 10% on the previous year. T-Mobile added just under 235,000 new customers in the same period.
Virgin Mobile, in stark contrast, added just 11,100 in the same period.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2024561,00.html