Telstra, Vodafone partner on project

The pilot project will be carried out in central regional Victoria, according to a statement.

Deena Shiff, managing director at Telstra Wholesale, said that the project would allow the telcos to share elements of their GSM base station infrastructure, to remove costly and unnecessary duplication in regional and rural areas.

“This is a new commercial model that benefits everyone by removing unnecessary duplication at the network layer, while promoting competition in services for the benefit of consumers,” Shiff said.

Grahame Maher, managing director at Vodafone Australia, said that if the pilot project was successful it would look at further network partnering with Telstra Wholesale.

“Let's face it -- customers don't care who operates the base stations -– they just want the best possible service and choice in mobile providers,” Maher said. “Network partnering that maintains that customer choice, while reducing costs, is a smart and logical solution that benefits all.”