Quick question for those in the know...

What exactly is happening with the cozy site sharing deal between O2 & Vodafone?

Are they actually sharing exisiting equipment at their sites like T-Mobile & '3' do, or have they got to upgrade their sites to each add their own equipment?

It's only the pole they are sharing. 2 sets of equipment on the mast and 2 communication boxes next to the pole at the roadside.

Just the pole like Plymouth says. 3 / T Mobile are sharing the whole thing, the site, cab, equipment, broadcasts, connections out to site but not the backhaul / breakout.

No much like if they were each sharing an Arqiva tower? That's likely to be a rather slower process then, and maybe limited to just a few stragegic sites, not the whole network.

Thanks.

try Ofcom sitefinder and you might find some of the shared sites, its not that up to date though sometimes as it's voluntarily updated.

I was looking at the local councils planning section of their website and there are some planning applications from Vodafone/O2.

They are existing Vodafone masts (the ones disguised as lamp posts), but they are replacing them with slightly lower ones (not sure why) and are going to be Vodafone/O2 according to the planning applications. So something is definitely happening in my area (North Yorkshire).

Yes, I know of that. I just wondered what's technically actually involved in this deal, so as to figure out how long it's going to take and whether they'll be sharing their entire network. Looks like being as they're not sharing the same equipment, it will be a long time and not widespread. Pity.

I would guess planning would limited how high their mast can be overall, so they have to use a shorter monopole so they can fit extra aerials on top for the additional provider. If they were sharing equipment (like T-Mobile/3), they wouldn't need to.