Spain's Telefonica. which owns O2, and rival Vodafone said today they had agreed to share and build infrastructure in Ireland, Spain, Germany and Britain in a cost-savings move amid the downturn.
"It is foreseen that this programme could generate significant benefits including estimated cost savings in the region of hundreds of millions of euros, for both companies, in the next 10 years," the mobile operators said in a joint statement.
They said they were also studying further cost savings in other related areas.
In Ireland, the companies will share their existing networks and will roll out future infrastructure jointly, they said.
In Germany, the companies will share their 2G and 3G mobile networks.
In Spain, where the operators signed a deal in 2007 to share electricity, equipment and masts, the pair will share new sites this year and next.
In Britain, the companies will build new infrastructure together and will consolidate existing 2G and 3G infrastructures.
Reuters