Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, a.s. : Telefónica and T-Mobile Signed an Agreement to Share 2G and…

Telefónica Czech Republic and T-Mobile Czech Republic have signed an agreement regarding the sharing of their current 2Gand 3Gmobile networks. The deal has been reached in order to achieve significant efficiencies in 2G and 3G networks and technologies. The transaction will bring tangible benefits to the customers of both carriers, especially in the form of better services and coverage. The deal is the result of negotiations that begun this year in August.

Moving forward to meet the technological challenges of the project, the first tests in artificial conditions will take place already next week. The main goal of these tests is to confirm the proposed technological solution. The commercial sharing will begin in the first half of 2014 and later advancing to the Czech Republic as a whole (excluding Prague and Brno).

"The developments in the telco sector in Europe show us that network sharing is the future of the entire industry. We are glad to be at the forefront of this development," Says Luis Malvido, CEO of Telefónica Czech Republic. "The deal we reached with T-Mobile means better coverage of both voice and data services, from which the customers of both parties will benefit," adds Malvido.

"We are glad that we managed to reach this deal. This is an important strategic step," says Milan Vašina, the CEO of T-Mobile Czech Republic. "Our services will be available to more customers and our operations will be more effective. On top of that, we will achieve a positive impact on the environment," adds Vašina.

The deal builds upon the very successful 3G network sharing scheme, which both companies already implemented in 2011-2012. This sharing scheme, which was the first active in Europe, helped accelerate 3G deployment in smaller towns. Currently, Telefónica and T-Mobile share almost 1,000 3G sites. The final number of shared sites based on the new agreement will be finalised based on the results of the tests. This deal has no relevance to any new technologies or future spectrum allocations.

T-Mobile CEO Milan Vašina and Telefónica CEO Luis Malvido with a copy of the network-sharing agreement

Contacts
Hany Farghali
Spokesperson
Telefónica Czech Republic, a.s.
public.relations.cz@o2.com
tel: +420 606 02 02 02

Telefónica Czech Republic is a major integrated operator in the Czech Republic. It is now operating almost eight million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the world's leading providers of fully converged services. The organization offers the most comprehensive portfolio of voice and data services in this country. It is paying special attention to the exploitation of the growth potential, particularly in the data and Internet sector. Telefónica Czech Republic operates the largest fixed and mobile network including a 3rd generation network, CDMA (for data), and UMTS, enabling voice, data and video transmission. Telefónica Czech Republic launched a LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4th generation mobile communication network as the first operator in the Czech Republic. The new network offers the fastest available mobile Internet nowadays. Telefónica Czech Republic is also a notable provider of ICT services.

Telefónica is one of the world's largest telecommunications operators by market capitalisation. Its activities are centred mainly on the fixed and mobile telephony businesses, while its broadband business is the key growth driver underpinning both. It operates in 25 countries and has a global customer base of 312 million. Telefónica's growth strategy is focused on the markets in which it has a strong foothold: Spain, Europe and Latin America. Telefónica is a 100% private sector company with its shares listed in Madrid and other stock exchanges and more than 1.5 million individual shareholders.