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Vodafone, Optus agree on shared 3G network in Australia
By Martyn Williams

The Australian mobile carrier units of Vodafone Group PLC and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. have agreed to roll out a combined third-generation (3G) cellular network in the country, they said Friday.

The deal between Vodafone Australia Ltd. and SingTel Optus Pty. Ltd. builds on a preliminary agreement reached in August this year and will see the two companies jointly share frequency spectrum and about 2,000 base stations, they said in a statement.

The two carriers hope to save money by sharing the cost of building the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) network. The initial build-out of the 2,000 base-station network covering six major Australian cities is estimated to cost about A$435 million (US$339 million) and Optus said it expects its investment to drop by around A$100 million as a result of working with Vodafone.

Construction has already begun with a view to launching the network in the third-quarter of 2005. It will initially be available in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and then be rolled out in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, they said.

The network will use a system from Nokia Corp. called Multi-Operator Radio Access Network (MO-RAN) that enables a single 3G network to be shared by more multiple operators.

The agreement is conditional on necessary regulatory approvals and clearances, including authorization from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Posted November 19, 2004 04:02 PM | TrackBack (1)