According to Analysys Mason, Asia Pacific telecoms account for 25 per cent of active network sharing deals against Europe?s 61 per cent.
The research firm claims that sharing network coverage has enabled operators in Europe to cost-effectively expand into new market segments including 3G and long term evolution (LTE). However, a few of the European telecom operators are focused on competing on strength of their differentiated services rather than banking on network coverage alone.
In contrast, majority of the operators in the Asia Pacific region compete on network coverage and do not engage in active network sharing which results in lack of monetisation of existing resources. Analysys Mason points out, that operators in markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand do not have any active network sharing agreements in place. Unlike operators in Europe, players in these markets have not implemented pooling of established network infrastructure leading to issues regarding coverage.
The research firm underlines that operators resort to active infrastructure sharing for expanding rural coverage, for cost-effective deployment of 3G or LTE, for optimum utilisation of established network resources, for increased revenue (through wholesale arrangements), for better spectrum bandwidth (through spectrum pooling) and for reduced spectrum cost (through joint bidding).
