Hutchison Whampoa’s Irish unit Three has signed a network sharing agreement with competitor Eircom following Three’s merger with O2 Ireland.
The contract was one of the remedies Three pledged to gain approval from the European Commission (EC) for…
Hutchison Whampoa’s Irish unit Three has signed a network sharing agreement with competitor Eircom following Three’s merger with O2 Ireland.
The contract was one of the remedies Three pledged to gain approval from the European Commission (EC) for its €850m (US$1.16bn) takeover of O2 earlier this year.
Eircom has had a network sharing agreement with O2 since 2011. Three made a commitment to the EC to offer Eircom improved terms to address a “concern regarding the termination or frustration of the pre-existing network sharing agreement”.
Eircom said the new pact runs until 2030 and will have the funds to create a shared network of over 2,000 sites before the end of 2017.
The operators will share site equipment, power supply, towers and transmission throughout the country and existing sites of both operators will be consolidated and new sites will be jointly built. However, assets will not be transferred and spectrum will not be shared under the new arrangement.
In addition to the improved network sharing agreement, Hong Kong-based Hutchison also committed to allow two new Irish MVNOs to operate on its network, with an option to upgrade one by giving it spectrum. The combined operator was required to sell up to 30% of its network capacity to the MVNOs while, at a later stage, offer the virtual players five blocks of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands.