Around half of mobile network sharing agreements in Europe are RAN sharing agreements without spectrum pooling. This is one of the main findings of Cullen International’s updated benchmark on mobile network sharing, analysing the regulatory framework and main agreements between operators in European countries.

Mobile operators often share their networks to reduce costs. Most of the infrastructure sharing agreements are the result of commercial negotiations rather than regulatory intervention. However, national authorities may regulate these agreements, and sometimes promote them to extend and improve mobile coverage, as is often the case for national roaming agreements.

The agreements may only be related to site sharing or may involve the radio access network (RAN), with or without spectrum pooling. Agreements can also be extended to the core network.

Our latest benchmark shows that 17 agreements out of the 35 analysed are RAN sharing without spectrum pooling, while nine are RAN sharing with spectrum pooling. Nine other cases involve another typology (e.g. roaming).

For more information and to access the full benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our European Telecoms service.