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It's Good to Share - not Skype but OrangeFone

In a move that might change the landscape of mobile operators Vodafone and Orange have chosen to share their radio access network and their new UMTS network elements.

This is to give them a predicted saving of 20 to 30 percent in operating and capital expenses for their 2G and 3G networks over the coming years.

A trial of this sharing was announced in the Spanish companies of the two firms in the back end of last year but this was only for 3G networks.

The potential for a working model like this is huge in built up areas where there is already cell saturation and no way for new players to enter the market or where existing players have poor coverage.

A report has been written that says that for this to work effectively a third company needs to be set up to cover the operation.

This is for the passive equipment and not the radio frequencies or transceivers and in many ways mirrors the not-merger of NokiaSiemens hardware vendors that support Vodafone and Orange.

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