Telefonica, DT reach agreement

Telefonica Germany (O2), the local unit of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, has signed a long-term agreement with Deutsche Telekom (DT) to use part of the German incumbent’s network to connect mobile phone base stations to its own backbone network, in a move that is expected to reduce the cost of carrying a growing volume of mobile data traffic, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reported.

The two companies said DT will connect around 2,000 locations where Telefonica’s voice and data traffic from various mobile phone masts is concentrated to the Spanish company’s backbone network via fiber-optic cables in the next few years, according to a joint statement.

This will allow Telefonica Germany to boost the speed and capacity of its UMTS and LTE mobile networks, while avoiding costs related to the expansion of its own fixed line infrastructure.

The data of the UMTS and LTE stations at points of concentration distributed throughout Germany gradually will be transferred into DT’s network infrastructure and transported from there into the O2 core network.