BT Signs 10 Year Deal With Telefonica To Handle O2 4G Data

BT has signed a ten year agreement with Telefonica to provide network bandwidth for the increased data expected on the O2 4G service due to launch later this year.

As part of the deal, BT will build a new high capacity transmission network to help it deal with the anticipated increase in demand for mobile data, while it will also provide O2 with an increase in backhaul capacity by delivering links between mobile base stations and the new network.

BT says that the transmission network will allow O2 to migrate from legacy time division multiplexing (TDM) to Ethernet-based IP services on the wired part of its network, allowing it to offer new applications to its customers while reducing its overall transmission costs.

O2 4G network

“With the UK’s 4G spectrum auction complete, UK mobile data traffic is set to grow by more than 400 per cent by 2016,” said Adrian Di Meo, Chief Technology Officer, O2 UK. “This is a huge opportunity for us, as well as a technical challenge. But through our partnership with BT Wholesale, customers of O2 will be backed by a high-performance mobile internet network which we believe will release the potential of 4G services and result in unrivalled mobile phone and internet browsing experiences.”

EE is currently the UK’s only 4G operator, but O2, Three and Vodafone all plan to launch similar services later this year after winning bandwidth in the recent Ofcom 4G spectrum, as did BT. This latest partnership is unlikely to dampen speculation that O2 could be about to become BT’s mobile partner.

Last week, BT confirmed to TechWeekEurope that it has opened a tender for operators to provide mobile services to its customers, having acquired £186.5 million worth of 2.6 GHz bandwidth in the auction.

The tender is open to all operators but O2 is believed to be a natural fit given that it only won 800MHz airwaves. It has been suggested that BT could trade spectrum with O2 or use it as part of a deal to offer 4G services to its customers.

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