Sharing is Caring

The conventional mobile network operation scheme is marked by vertical integration where the mobile network operator purchases and builds the sites needed for rolling out the network, design the network architecture, operates, controls and maintains the network and customer services relationships, gains market share and provides services to customer-individual and corporate.

Regulatory requirements also mandate coverage of areas that are not attractive from a business perspective....With growing competitive intensity and rapid price declines, mobile operators are facing increased margin pressure and the need to systematically improve their cost position.

In the current market environment, focusing merely on the provisioning of coverage and capacity has a relatively low success factor, and to address this reality, operators are adopting multiple strategies, with network-sharing emerging as a more radical mechanism to substantially and sustainably improve network costs.


Mobile infrastructure sharing in telecom is an important measure to reduce costs. It is useful in the startup phase to build coverage quickly and, in the longer-term scenario, to build more cost-effective coverage, especially in rural and less populated or marginalised areas.

From 'Mobile Cellular Network Infrastructure-Sharing Models Among GSM Network Operators: A Technical Review', researchgate.net