3 and T-Mobile join hands to support their mobile broadband network
The mobile operators, 3 and T-Mobile, have recently entered a 5-year backhaul agreement with BT Wholesale. The agreement was entered through the two mobile operators’ joint-venture company (MBNL – Mobile Broadband Network Ltd).
MBNL was formed so that both mobile companies could merge, streamline and strengthen their base stations, and thereby increase their UK reach (strength in numbers, so to speak).
The 5-year deal with BT Wholesale stipulates that BT will connect 7,500 of MBNL’s base stations to BT’s broadband network (called 21CN – 21st Century Network). The plan and the hope is that by entering this deal, it will extend MBNL’s capacity to handle the ever-increasing consumer demand for mobile broadband (and achieve this in as cost-efficient and environmentally-beneficial a way as possible).
With the agreement, MBNL envision that by 2010, it will have the most extensive third-generation network in the UK.
Let’s watch this space, shall we?
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[...] with 3 would make sense according to some industry analysts. In 2007 the two companies formed the Mobile Broadband Network Ltd organisation, which claims to be the “world’s largest known active 3G network [...]