Telecom Report – “3G Infrastructure Sharing: the inevitable future for mobile networks”
Most mobile network operators will implement infrastructure sharing of some sort. Sharing networks will have many benefits, but also represents the greatest upheaval to mobile networks in the history of the mobile industry and will present major challenges.
Mobile network consolidation, to just one or two networks per country, will have profound implications for other industry players, including equipment vendors and regulators, and will require them to adopt new strategies.
This telecom report reviews a range of infrastructure sharing arrangements, from site sharing to complete network sharing. It quantifies the cost savings arising from 3G and 2G network sharing and discusses other benefits.
The report studies the many challenges that mobile operators will face as they undertake network sharing and identifies the best approaches. It considers the strategic implications of extensive network sharing for mobile operators, equipment vendors and regulators, and defines the actions that they should take.
The report includes insights into network sharing from interviews with early adopters and vendors.
Questions answered by this report
- Why is network sharing so important now? How extensive will it be?
- What are the different types of network sharing? Which is the best approach?
- What are the capital and operational cost savings of network sharing?
- What are the key challenges of network sharing and how can they be overcome?
- How do you implement a successful network-sharing project?
- Do operators need both 2G- and 3G-network sharing? How should network operators choose their network-sharing partners?
- How will network sharing affect the market for mobile infrastructure?
- What are the implications of network sharing for competition and regulation?
Some of the issues in this report are discussed in the following Wireless Blog posts:
