Vodafone and O2 (uk) to Share Network Infrastructure

Sponge Bob

In the UK the 2 GSM 900 Networks are to merge in future. Meanwhile Comreg deludes itself that 2 networks in Ireland, which lose their 2G licences in April 2013, are somehow 'competing'. Gahhh.

http://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2012/06/07/vodafone-uk-and-telefonica-uk-to-merge-network-infrastructure/

Under the plans, the two mobile network operators will jointly operate and manage a single network grid running two competing mobile voice and internet networks, with both retaining complete control over their own wireless spectrum, intelligent core networks and customer data.

This is not RAN sharing ( where you pool spectrum backhaul and masts....here they share backhaul and masts only) but that will happen in most rural parts of the UK starting as early as next year for 4G data.

the JV will be tasked with organising the construction of any new sites needed to extend coverage into rural and remote areas. Further, it is expected that opportunities for decommissioning duplicate sites will arise, and the duo have suggested that there could be a more than 10% reduction in the total number of sites in operation. In terms of the design, management and maintenance of the radio equipment and local transmission, meanwhile, Vodafone and O2 will each take responsibility for one half of the country; O2 will manage and maintain these elements in the East (including Northern Ireland and most of Scotland), while Vodafone will look after the West (including Wales). The company has also confirmed that, in a similar fashion to the existing network partnership between the two companies – Cornerstone (see below) – all shared sites will continue to carry O2’s traffic on O2’s spectrum and Vodafone’s traffic on Vodafone’s spectrum. Indeed, both operators will continue to remain responsible for their own existing spectrum holdings and for fulfilling their own spectrum needs in the future.

In announcing the development, it has been claimed that the plan will benefit the UK’s mobile subscribers by creating two competing networks capable of offering 2G and 3G services to 98% of the population by 2015. In addition, it is claimed that the JV will ensure that the rollout of 4G mobile services occurs swiftly, and covers as wide an area as possible. Indeed, it is claimed that the partnership will ‘lay the foundations for two competing 4G networks to deliver a nationwide 4G service faster than could be achieved independently and up to two years before the anticipated regulatory requirement of 98% population coverage by 2017’. The operators are now understood to be in discussion with telecoms regulator Ofcom regarding the proposed tie-up, and it is suggested that, following a satisfactory outcome from those talks, the joint venture and network sharing arrangements could be in place later this year.

Those deluded muppets in Comreg only want 70% Population coverage ( meaning 13% Geographic coverage) and expect O2 Voda and the rest of them to do so on separate networks.

Expect mobile phone coverage in rural areas to rapidly collapse starting as early as next April.

breathn

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Expect mobile phone coverage in rural areas to rapidly collapse starting as early as next April.

Great post.
Why would GSM and HSPA networks collapse from next year?

What happens after the licenses expire?

Thanks

Sponge Bob

HSPA won't , GSM will. Too expensive to maintain is why.

On A GSM network the key metrics Europe Wide averages are.

1. 10% of sites carry 50% of traffic
2. 20% of sites (mainly rural ones) carry 1% of traffic

The TOP 10% of sites carry 100 Times more traffic EACH than the BOTTOM 10%

The bottom of the tail in Ireland is longer as Ireland is 'more' rural. In other words the bottom 30% of sites carry 1% of all traffic in Ireland where it could be the bottom 5% of sites carry 1% of all traffic in Belgium or Holland.

Vodafone and O2 cannot wait to get out of there and as their licenced expire in early 2013 they will as soon as they practicably can ( or something blows up and costs too much to replace).

Comreg has already allowed it. The 4G Licences to be auctioned this summer come with a 70% population coverage requirement which is only about 15% GEOGRAPHIC . Coverage. Compare that to the 90% GEOGRAPHIC Coverage that Vodafone have today at reasonable strengths.

Vodafone can abandon fully 5/6ths of its geographic network in 2013 and Comreg can and will do nothing about it.

The 4G licence conditions will not only allow them to do this but the mobile operators want the taxpayer and the EU to pay for the replacement network outside the towns .....and are not prepared to even guarantee the 90%** Coverage we have now for that investment.

IT IS A MESS, presied over by an incompetent and useless regulator that was 'Regulatory Captured' by its industry many many years ago.

(**We all know that Meteor and Three = VODAFONE GSM in many rural areas)

wotzgoingon

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The 4G Licences to be auctioned this summer come with a 70% population coverage requirement which is only about 15% GEOGRAPHIC . Coverage. Compare that to the 90% GEOGRAPHIC Coverage that Vodafone have today at reasonable strengths.

Yes but isn't that 15% geographic coverage just for 4G. So just cities I suppose and a couple of large towns.

Maybe I'm picking this up wrong, but what you are saying is they are shutting down most remote rural 2G networks. Not good if you live in the sticks which I do(sometimes) but I'm not too far from the town.

What is happening with the 3G networks. They aren't up for renewal are they? I'd say they have a different licence time frame.

coylemj

And I bet that the very same Luddites who objected to GSM masts in rural Ireland in the first place will be up in arms because the local doctor will be out of reach if the GSM network is downgraded,

Chickens coming home to roost, can't happen soon enough for me.

AlmightyCushion

Sponge Bob wrote: »

HSPA won't , GSM will. Too expensive to maintain is why.

What are the cost differences between the two? Surely, GSM is cheaper seeing as it has a larger cell size so one mast can service a larger area. I think either Vodafone or O2 would be crazy to start shutting down their 2G masts just because they can. The loss of coverage would affect more people than just the people that live there. Any one who does a lot of travelling and uses their phone on the road would switch if the coverage went to crap. It could result in a lot of lost revenue.

Oceans12

2g network coverage on O2 and Vodafone is not going to disappear any time soon, lots of large corporate customers use devices that depend on 2g coverage....

Their product roadmap and service offerings say differ..

2g is here for a good while yet

2g has a lot further range and is not as affected by foliage / buildings etc than 2100mhz

Sponge Bob

3g is licenced for another 5 or 6 years ...you may have noticed that 3g coverage has been frozen for around 3-4 years and has not expanded nationally bar some cells built the NBS scheme.....only at most 100 of them and most likely nearer 80.

Any new cells built are urban infills in areas that already had coverage but were congested, eg too many dongles sold to students.

The 4G network will have to reach its full extent of 15% Geographic and 70% population within 3 years, roughly what the most 3G networks cover in practice.....save if a new market entrant wins spectrum....it will take them 7 years.

The 2G network built by Digifone in 1996-1998 was to reach 53% Geographic Coverage AND 80% population ( BOTH) in 9 MONTHS FLAT. It missed that ambitious target by around 6 months.

Meteor had to make it to 50% Geographic and 80% population in 4 years but at a much higher frequency meaning more cells required.

There is no GEOGRAPHIC component in 4G licences so you pick the towns where 3G is.... and you are sound. 15% Geographic coverage will get you there.

In short, when the 2G licences expire in a years time so does the most significant geographic coverage requirement of any licencee, that of O2. eircell were not obliged to cover as much as O2 but had to compete.

Vodafone applied to build ONE new mast since January 2008 in all of county Galway, that was refused by an Bord Pleanála.

O2 applied for one new mast, in Athenry, and got permission. They admitted the 3G cells are 1/4 the size of 2G cells and that even those small cells shrink ( application Page 9) so fair enough. :

Oceans12

Yes but I don't see 2g coverage just disappearing or dropping off in 2013

Sponge Bob

One is conflating SCADA Alarms/Trackers and Telemetry with the far more demanding of spectrum Voice and GPRS/EDGE functionality.

SCADA Alarms/Trackers and Telemetry can run quite happily in 1mhz x 1mhz pairs while Voice/Data with shorter contracts is migrated off to some other technology or simply told to feck off. in many cases 1800mhz will do nicely...that run out in 3 years time.

breathn

I'm just thinking about the quality of reception I have in rural Ireland over the last 2 years ago.
We used to have O2 broadband and I could reliably get 2mbps with it and then about 2 years ago the peak was about 500kbps. We would all still have 3G on phones and it was good enough to stream online music stations.

Early last summer the maximum 3G reception on the phones we'd get outside was 1 bar and since late last summer we haven't seen a trace of 3G at all. A whole chunk of our area none of us are able to pick up 3G at all.

The quality of signal in rural Ireland is already dropping.

A few in our household have already switched to different networks for much better call plans like Tesco Mobile and Lyca. But of course that choice also uses the O2 radio network and we still see E on our phones.

It's not great when the only competitive prices are coming from the same crumbling infrastructure.

Meteor is becoming worse and for the meteor-locked phones, many calls have to be taken outside now.

I get the feeling that this is only going to get worse and the OPs fears could come true.