Back in November 2019, Telefonica Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone Germany signed an agreement to co-ordinate the construction of 6,000 radio sites across Germany, which would then be used by all three operators. These sites would be primarily positioned in rural areas and along key transport routes…
Back in November 2019, Telefonica Deutschland, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone Germany signed an agreement to co-ordinate the construction of 6,000 radio sites across Germany, which would then be used by all three operators. These sites would be primarily positioned in rural areas and along key transport routes, so-called ‘white spots’ which had no 4G coverage from any of the operators. This will ultimately avoid duplicated infrastructure deployment and reduce costs for the operators.
This decision came just two months after the operators agreed to new coverage goals set out by the regulator, in exchange for being given longer payment terms for the acquisition of 5G spectrum licences. The operators will now be able to pay annual instalments until 2030 for the purchase of 5G spectrum.
Now, the three operators have taken network sharing one step further, announcing a bilateral active sharing agreement. The deal is set to including 1,200 sites covering ‘grey spots’, in which customers currently only had access to services from one of the three operators.
This move comes, at least in part, due to pressure from Germany’s anti-trust regulator, which is pushing the country’s three largest operators to cooperate in order to increase customer choice.
The new sharing agreement was revealed as part of a larger strategy update from Telefonica Deutschland, in which the company was optimistic about its continued rollouts of 4G and 5G, as well as its financial position. The company noted its intent to propose an increased dividend of €0.18 per share for the 2020 fiscal year, as well as maintaining a minimum dividend from 2021 to 2023.
In addition, Telefonica said it would be looking to turn off its German 3G network by the end of the year, as well as shifting investments from 4G to 5G. The operator is currently planning to connect 30% of German households to 5G this year, with total coverage expected by 2025.
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