3g-g
19th September 2007, 01:41 PM
From the Guardian: http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2172347,00.html
Vodafone and Orange have finalised their UK network joint venture and will today announce they are looking for an outsourcing partner, such as Ericsson, to help maintain their mobile masts in a move that will raise concerns about potential British job losses.
The two mobile phone groups will today inform their hundreds of network staff that, after months of talks, they have signed a deal to create a joint venture company. It will look after their combined radio networks - consisting of thousands of mobile phone masts across the country.
While the venture will initially focus on the two companies' newer 3G networks they are hoping to expand it, over time, to include their older 2G network infrastructure.
The deal should mean fewer masts will be needed for both companies to fill out their networks and could cut the cost of extending 3G services, such as high-speed mobile internet access, into rural areas.
Having spent billions acquiring the licences to run 3G services, and seen the market become fiercely competitive, the UK networks are looking to reduce costs. As a result many companies are looking to outsource some of their operations.
Last year 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, signed a seven-year £1bn outsourcing deal with Ericsson which saw more than 1,000 staff transfer to the Swedish firm.
The Orange-Vodafone joint venture is likely to mean staff transferring to the new network company, while any outsourcing agreement could put jobs in jeopardy.
Vodafone and Orange, however, will retain control of their backbone networks, which connect phone masts with systems such as billing and content, allowing them to continue to develop their own services.
The two companies have been talking for more than seven months and recently there has been speculation that negotiations had collapsed. The deal has undoubtedly taken longer than either side had envisaged as accountants and lawyers have argued over which assets should be included in the joint venture and how it should be funded. Staff affected range from engineers and technicians to human resources and property specialists.
Both companies are already working together in Spain but their network deal in that country concerns sharing masts in remote rural areas and is nowhere near as wide-ranging as the UK deal.
Vodafone and Orange have finalised their UK network joint venture and will today announce they are looking for an outsourcing partner, such as Ericsson, to help maintain their mobile masts in a move that will raise concerns about potential British job losses.
The two mobile phone groups will today inform their hundreds of network staff that, after months of talks, they have signed a deal to create a joint venture company. It will look after their combined radio networks - consisting of thousands of mobile phone masts across the country.
While the venture will initially focus on the two companies' newer 3G networks they are hoping to expand it, over time, to include their older 2G network infrastructure.
The deal should mean fewer masts will be needed for both companies to fill out their networks and could cut the cost of extending 3G services, such as high-speed mobile internet access, into rural areas.
Having spent billions acquiring the licences to run 3G services, and seen the market become fiercely competitive, the UK networks are looking to reduce costs. As a result many companies are looking to outsource some of their operations.
Last year 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, signed a seven-year £1bn outsourcing deal with Ericsson which saw more than 1,000 staff transfer to the Swedish firm.
The Orange-Vodafone joint venture is likely to mean staff transferring to the new network company, while any outsourcing agreement could put jobs in jeopardy.
Vodafone and Orange, however, will retain control of their backbone networks, which connect phone masts with systems such as billing and content, allowing them to continue to develop their own services.
The two companies have been talking for more than seven months and recently there has been speculation that negotiations had collapsed. The deal has undoubtedly taken longer than either side had envisaged as accountants and lawyers have argued over which assets should be included in the joint venture and how it should be funded. Staff affected range from engineers and technicians to human resources and property specialists.
Both companies are already working together in Spain but their network deal in that country concerns sharing masts in remote rural areas and is nowhere near as wide-ranging as the UK deal.