KARLSKRONA, Sweden-Europolitan and Hi3G, two companies granted Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Sweden last year, agreed to jointly build part of their UMTS infrastructure.
The companies will form a common entity designated to build and provide UMTS infrastructure, mainly outside the three major metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmoe. The venture will jointly build 70 percent of the population coverage, with independent networks concentrated in the metropolitan areas.
“By sharing the same infrastructure platform, we can meet the requirement set on us more cost effectively and offer our customers fast and efficient access to this new technology,” said Jon Risfelt, chief executive officer of Europolitan, and Bjorn Svedberg, Hi3G’s chairman, in a joint statement.
Each company will have equal access rights to the shared infrastructure but will retain their operating independence including designing and delivering customer services and content.
“We are open to cooperation and partnership with others,” said Risfelt and Svedberg. “The company will be an important tool for building Sweden’s best UMTS network, and in that effort, we are glad to cooperate with other companies with the same ambitions.”
Europolitan said it will maintain its plan to give priority to rolling out UMTS coverage in Europolitan’s six UMTS municipalities, along with the metropolitan areas.
Europolitan currently operates Sweden’s third-largest mobile network with about 988,000 customers at the end of September 2000. It is owned 71.1 percent by Vodafone Group plc and 29.9 percent by NetCom AB.
Hi3G is a newcomer to the Swedish mobile market. It is owned 60 percent by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and 40 percent by Investor AB.
Sweden awarded four UMTS licenses on Dec. 16. Mobile leader Telia was left out of the awards, while incumbent operators NetCom and Europolitan received licenses, along with Hi3G and Orange Sweden. Telia has since announced a mobile virtual network operator agreement with NetCom.
Strong competition and expensive buildout and license costs have forced European mobile operators to look at new business strategies for UMTS networks.
