20 February 2008
Orange and Vodafone are to share several of their networks in the UK, in a bid to limit the number of phone mast-sites each company holds.
Under the terms of the deal, both 3G and 2G masts will be shared by the two mobile phone firms.
The masts themselves will not become jointly owned by Vodafone and Orange, however, with the deal consisting merely of a pledge to encourage sharing of services.
Both firms will save money on the deal - and coverage of remote areas for each network also seems set to improve.
Tom Alexander, head of Orange UK, commented: "This deal will see our two companies work together to ensure our customers benefit from better, deeper and faster mobile coverage in more places, with fewer mast-sites."
Vodafone and Orange currently operate a combined total of 27,000 masts in the UK - a number which will drop by around 3,000 under the plan.
Between them, the firms retain over 34 million British customers.