Wireless network sharing hits the mainstream

Crucially, as momentum grows for more network sharing, it is difficult to see how some operators can keep away from the bandwagon in the long term.

 

3 UK, the smallest player in the market, is now bullish with claims of having the best 3G network in the UK.

 

Unsurprisingly, given its limited resources, the only reason 3 UK has been able to achieve such a feat is because of the benefits from its MBNL active network sharing deal with T-Mobile (and soon Orange).

 

In the long run, we are not convinced that other operators in the UK and around the world can afford to forego such a beneficial strategy. For big vendors such as Ericsson or small ones such as Radio Design, network sharing opens new opportunities while creating some concerns.

 

 

This is the question we posed at Avren’s NGN conference in April 2010. Our core premise is that other utility services – gas, electricity, and even fixed telephony – typically deliver services via a single network.

 

 If it is taking too long to achieve full-scale consolidation in many mobile markets, perhaps pooling the networks together into one or two networks can streamline the industry’s structure and reduce network costs. For this sort of network-level consolidation, competition is no longer at the network level but rather at the service level.

 

Since we posed this question, many others have begun to ask whether four or five mobile networks are really sustainable in any country. UK-based infrastructure company Arqiva has articulated its concept of a “Neutral Host”, positioning itself as a viable candidate to unite, consolidate, and manage the existing networks of all UK mobile operators.

 

But let’s not get carried away just yet. Even if this radical structure can deliver huge benefits to the industry, challenges abound. Questions about loss of network competitiveness, ownership of assets, and regulatory directives all need to be answered before the industry can eye a single network for the future.