Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) have signed an agreement to share additional mobile sites across Australia in a bid to strengthen services for its customers.
Optus and Vodafone previously signed a joint-venture agreement to build a shared 3G network in 2004 and already share around 2000 base stations across Australia. The new agreement will see the telcos build 500 new shared sites over the next four years.
Optus announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vodafone that will grant the telco access to 1000 additional mobile sites by 2015; an increase of 20 per cent.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Geelong, Central Coast, Gold Coast, and Canberra will benefit from the expanded network deal between the two telcos.
According to Optus, the new agreement will bring better network consistency, faster data speeds and broader coverage to its customers.
Optus' 4G network, which launched last month, is also expected to benefit from the deal. 4G mobile coverage will be expanded in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane as a result of the new agreement. In addition, Optus will be the exclusive roaming partner for VHA customers in selected regional areas through to 2018.
"Today’s agreement ensures Optus can accelerate its aggressive push to bring customers a leading mobile network,” said Optus' Consumer Australia CEO claimed Kevin Russell. “We will bring quicker data speeds, better call quality, and improved performance in more places.”
The expanded joint venture network arrangement between Optus and VHA is still subject to approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
