Telefónica said that it and Vodafone are planning to accelerate the connection of their mobile base stations to fibre cables. The two companies have agreed on a pilot project to connect parts of their mobile locations to each other’s high-speed backhaul broadband lines.
In Spain Telefónica has agreed a new wholesale deal for Orange to access Telefonica’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network.
This is an extension of a two-year-old deal that limited Orange’s access to Telefónica fibre to certain areas.
Telefónica and Orange said there was a long term wholesale relationship in areas where Orange is not planning to deploy its own FTTH network.
In Germany Telefónica said the deal with Vodafone “may also serve as a building block to better prepare the mobile networks for the future technology 5G”.
Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone Germany, said: “On the one hand, we are driving home even more capacity to the Vodafone network, which already delivers the highest peaks regarding speed in the market. On the other hand, the project is another possible building block in our 5G strategy for building the network of tomorrow.”
Markus Haas, chairman of the board of directors of Telefónica Deutschland, said: “With joint forces, we are able to drive the backhaul broadband connection necessary for high-speed networks in mobile communications more quickly and efficiently.”
He also referred to the importance of the move for 5G investment. “We are improving the network quality of Telefónica Deutschland’s newly integrated network while preparing our network for the future technology 5G,” said Haas. “Our mobile network will thus form the optimal foundation for our customers’ mobile freedom.”
