Telefónica said the transfer of redundant infrastructure will allow the telco to focus on LTE deployments
Telefónica Deutschland, the local subsidiary of Spanish telecom operator Telefónica, is transferring 7,700 mobile telephone sites to Deutsche Telekom.
The sites selected by the two operators will be taken over as soon as approval by the antitrust authority has been granted. Both sides have agreed to maintain confidentiality regarding the financial details.
Last year Telefónica Deutschland reached an agreement with Dutch operator KPN to acquire its German subsidiary E-Plus. As part of the conditions of the acquisition, the telco is transferring this redundant infrastructure to Deutsche Telekom.
“The agreement with Deutsche Telekom has clear advantages for all concerned,” Telefónica Deutschland CTO Cayetano Carbajo Martin said. “Our efforts for eliminating redundant mobile telecommunications sites will be reduced significantly. In the interest of our customers, this allows us an even stronger concentration on the future-oriented LTE roll out.”
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“With this acquisition of mobile network base stations, we can realize our expansion faster and our customers will benefit from the additional power of the Telekom network even sooner,” DT technology head Bruno Jacobfeuerborn said. “The collaboration between Telefónica and Telekom in the tower business will also be intensified by this cooperation.”
Upon conclusion of the network integration, Telefónica Deutschland plans to offer customers improved network coverage with more than 25,000 sites. The sites agreed to by the parties are primarily rooftop-sites that Telefónica Deutschland can use without restrictions until they become unnecessary through the integration of the Telefónica Deutschland and E-Plus networks.
Telefónica Deutschland operates in the local market under the O2 brand. The acquisition of E-Plus was completed in October 2014.