Cellphone tower sharing
January 25th, 2010 at 11:25 am by David FarrarThe Dom Post reports:
The Commerce Commission has opened the door to mobile phone companies sharing a 4G mobile network, saying it would be willing to engage in “appropriate discussions” on issues that may be relevant to network sharing.
Telecommunications Industry Group chief executive Rob Spray suggested in December that Vodafone, Telecom and 2degrees could build a 4G network using shared cellphone towers and radio spectrum that they jointly owned, to avoid a proliferation of cellphone towers.
2degrees chief executive Eric Hertz expressed support for the idea, while Telecom said it was open to it in principle. However, Vodafone feared that any move to a single mobile network might fall foul of competition law.
A commission spokesperson says the Commerce Act does not bar such arrangements, except where they might greatly lessen competition.
I think it is very sensible to avoid duplication in infrastructure for mobile phones. The competition should come in services and applications.
In fact an idea which has occured to me, is that regional fibre companies could be tasked with responsiblity for future cellphone towers in their areas. My rationale is:
- RFCs are set up to provide infrastructure to telcos and ISPs
- RFCs are not allowed to be majority owned by a telco that provides services or applications
- As more of the Internet goes over the mobile network, you need better backhaul from cellphone towers, so who better than the local fibre company
- The telcos might even consider selling their existing cellphone towers to RFCs
Of course at this stage we don’t have any RFCs yet, but once they are established it may well be a conversation worth happening.
Related posts:
- All about Telecom
- 2 degrees makes 1 million customers
- Mobile termination rates to be regulated
- 2degrees shared data
January 26th, 2010 at 12:03 am
If I see one cell tower I look around to see if I can see another two because normally the three mobile companies chose the same locality to place their towers.
Vote:January 26th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
If only there were any towers at all outside the main populated areas.
Vote:Try driving across the South Island on Highway 73, i.e. Arthur’s Pass, the main East to West coast road. As soon as you are past Springfield, there is no phone cover at all. Zero. All the way to Arthur’s Pass village where funnily enough, both Telecom and Vodafone have coverage. But that is only very brief, and it’s back to zero cover all the way to the West Coast.
So all that traffic is passing back and forwards, trucks, buses, tourists and families, in all sorts of weather, all sorts of breakdowns and problems and no way of summoning help or contacting friends and family. It’s not like there is a farmhouse every few km either.
It’s crazy the number of cell towers in cities, with none at all where you actually need them in an emergency!
Why are the government so hot on broadband outside the cities when there isn’t even any mobile coverage?
January 27th, 2010 at 12:47 am
All very well if property rights are respected, but in the area of telecommunications policy these were throw away by the Labour Government, and the current government doesn’t think much more of them either.
Vote: