NOS, Vodafone Portugal to share fixed and mobile infrastructure
October 2, 2017
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
NOS and Vodafone Portugal have signed a national infrastructure development and sharing agreement, which will allow them to launch commercial offers on the shared network, starting from 2018.
According to NOS, the agreement foresees the reciprocal sharing of dark fibre in about 2.6 million homes, with both company sharing the required investment equally.
This partnership also involves the mobile telephony infrastructure, which will see the sharing of at least 200 mobile towers. As a result of this agreement, coverage of NOS’s Next Generation Network will exceed 4.4 million homes by the end of 2018, providing them with 1 Gbps services. Vodafone Portugal will reach 1.3 million homes and businesses, totalling some 4 million homes on fibre.
The two telecom operators will “maintain full autonomy in the design of their commercial offers and in choosing the technological solutions they decide to implement”.
In addition, there will be “total independence in the management of the customer base of the companies, as well as the confidentiality in the treatment of the information of the consumers”. The agreement comes after rival Meo/Portugal Telecom (owned by Altice) recently announced the connection of 4 million households with the fibre optic network, setting a target of 5.3 million by 2020.