Network cooperation between telecom competitors

Most recently, two fierce Italian telecom competitors with pending legal and regulatory claims resolved their differences and decided to share infrastructure. They are now jointly planning the rollout of their Next Generation Networks and they adopted a cooperation model open to all interested operators. This shift is a direct result of the need to focus on commercial offering and the drive to commoditize telecom networks. This trend is growing in both developed and developing markets. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region today, telecom networks are almost in every corner around us, yet the number of telecom operators is set to grow further. Policy makers and regulators understand the positive impact a balanced number of operators can have on competition and consequently on the economy as a whole. This raises a number of questions to answer: are investors still interested to fund more networks? Will those networks be