Shared 3G Networks - A Solution To Soaring Capex

Thu, Aug 14th 2003 3:48pm — Derek Kerton

One of the best solutions for keeping down the cost of 3G network deployments is a partnership among competitive carriers in deploying a shared 3G network. Such a partnership is being considered by Vodafone in Australia, where sparse populations require higher infrastructure costs per pop (population covered). This solution has been proposed in Europe as well, but the best example is actually the 2G networks of Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility in Canada, where the competitors share their infrastructure in the East and West sides of the country to reduce Capex and overlap. In the US, Nextwave is proposing a similar 3G sharing solution, where Nextwave would deploy the infrastructure, and white label it through the mobile carrier brands.

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