China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom reached a major agreement on sharing certain mobile network infrastructure.
The companies have formed a new company, China Communications Facilities Services, whose mission will be the construction, maintenance and operation of telecommunications towers. The joint venture will also cover the construction, maintenance and operation of ancillary facilities including base station control rooms, power supplies and air conditioning, as well as interior distribution systems and the provision of outsourced base station equipment maintenance services.
The shareholding structure of China Communications Facilities Services Corporation Limited is as follows:
- China Mobile - 40%
- China Unicom - 30.1%
- China Telecom - 29.9%
The companies are at a preliminary stage in discussing whether existing infrastructure should be contributed into the venture.
For its part, China Mobile said the network sharing deal would help reduce the industry's inefficiency and cost of building redundant towers and related telecommunications infrastructure. It will also help alleviate the difficult challenge of site selection for new towers in cities.
http://www.irasia.com/listco/hk/chinamobile/announcement/a127090-ew0941.pdf
From China Mobile's Annual Report issued in May 2014:
