Mobile operators O2 and T-Mobile announce that on May 2nd, they signed an agreement on sharing 4G LTE networks. This cooperation will bring high-speed broadband coverage to the majority of the country this year. Both operators will continue using their own core network infrastructure and will retain independent business strategies.

The agreement is a result of negotiation that was announced at the end of February. Sharing of the radio infrastructure will allow quicker 4G LTE rollout than has been stipulated in the conditions of the 4G LTE auction. It will also contribute to a more effective maintenance of the network, with a positive effect on the environment, among other benefits.

"Thanks to this agreement, we will bring fast mobile internet to Czech customers in a very short time - both in rural and urban areas of the country. A shared network is also a European trend, as evidenced by similar successful projects in the UK, Sweden or France," says Luis Malvido, CEO of O2.

"This is a strategic step that follows on our current agreement on sharing 2G and 3G access networks," says Milan Vašina, CEO of T-Mobile. "On top of a faster high-speed broadband roll-out, the agreement will also bring savings that will allow further investment into the networks and services," adds Vašina.

Both companies will conduct the first tests in the coming weeks in order to assess the full functionality of the technical solution. After all the processes are fine-tuned in testing conditions, the commercial sharing will begin in H2 2014.

4G LTE sharing will cover the whole country, excluding Brno and Prague. O2 will become responsible for running and maintaining the network in the eastern part of the country, while T-Mobile will run the western regions of the country. The network will achieve speeds of up to 75 Mb/s (download) and 25 Mb/s (upload), up to several times higher than 3G networks. These speeds will later be upgraded.

Both T-Mobile and O2 will meet all the requirements set forth by the conditions of the spectrum auction. The sharing will affect only the radio elements of the network, the core infrastructure will remain independent. Therefore, both operators will continue competing both in the quality and speed of their service.

Contacts
Ctibor Jappel

ctibor.jappel@telefonica.com
tel: 800 163 342 (800 1 media)

About Telefónica Czech Republic

O2 is the largest integrated telecommunications provider in the Czech market. At present we operate close to eight million mobile and fixed accesses, which ranks us among the market leaders in fully converged services in Europe. To users of mobile services in the Czech Republic we offer state-of-the-art HSPA+ and LTE technology. We have the most comprehensive proposition of voice and data services in the Czech Republic, and we actively exploit the growth potential of the various business lines, especially ICT. Our data centres, with total floor area of 7,300 square metres, rank us among the leaders in hosting, cloud and managed services. O2 data centres are the only ones in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe to have TIER III certification. With our O2 TV we are also the largest IPTV service provider in the Czech Republic. In January 2014, O2 became a member of the Czech investment group PPF.

PPF Group invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, insurance, real estate, energy, metal mining, agriculture, retail and biotechnology. PPF's reach spans from Central and Eastern Europe to Russia and across Asia. PPF Group owns assets of EUR 22.113 billion (as at 30 June 2013).

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