Orange and Yoigo Sign Network Sharing Deal

France Telecom's Orange and Teliasonera's Yoigo have announced plans to share their network infrastructure in Spain. The companies have signed a five-year contract to optimise the use of their networks - but did not give any financial details.

The move is a little surprising, as Yoigo currently has a 2G national roaming agreement with Vodafone.

TeliaSonera has a 76.6% stakeholding in Yoigo. ACS, the construction and services group, has a 17% stake, FCC, a 3.4% stake and Telvent, a 3% stake.

In a separate announcement, Yoigo's minority shareholder, Telvent said that it has signed a contract to manage all of Yoigo's information and communications systems. The total amount of the contract exceeds 4.7 million euros. Specifically, Telvent will operate Yoigo's systems and work desks, as well as administrate and ensure the security of its telecommunications and data bases.

In addition, Telvent will support and offer basic consultancy on potential technology updates or improvements. Through this specialized attention, Yoigo's exploitation and evolution of business applications will be secured, along with the integration of said applications with third parties.

Posted to the site on 17th January 2008