沃達豐與和記黃埔將共建電信網

Vodafone is in advanced discussions with rival Hutchison Whampoa about merging their Irish telecoms infrastructure in the latest attempt by mobile operators to cut costs and improve coverage in the face of difficult business conditions.

沃達豐(Vodafone)正與對手和記黃埔(Hutchison Whampoa)就合併雙方在愛爾蘭的電信基礎設施展開深入談判，這是在目前商業困境下，移動運營商爲削減成本和提高覆蓋率做出的最新嘗試。

The negotiations between Vodafone and Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate that operates the Three mobile brand in Ireland, to create a shared grid have reached agreement although not formally signed.

沃達豐與和記黃埔之間的談判旨在建立一個共同的電信網絡，目前雙方已達成協議，不過還未正式簽字。李嘉誠(Li Ka-shing)旗下的和記黃埔是一家總部位於香港的集團企業，在愛爾蘭經營着移動品牌“3”。

The pair will create an equal joint venture structure that will own the telecoms equipment, but they will maintain independent spectrum holdings and run competing retail services. Savings for each business could exceed £200m over a five-year period, according to one person with knowledge of the talks.

沃達豐與和記黃埔將建立一個利益均等的合資架構來掌控它們在愛爾蘭的電信設備，但二者會保留各自獨立的頻段，並提供相互競爭的零售服務。據一位瞭解談判情況的人士透露，雙方在五年的時間裏可各自節省下逾兩億英鎊成本。

The move would be latest in a series of deals between rival operators to share the costs of the physical mast infrastructure needed to broadcast mobile services to their users.

此前亦有一些互爲對手的運營商達成了類似協議，它們的目的在於彼此分擔基站成本。運營商爲用戶提供移動服務離不開基站。

Increasingly, mobile operators are engaging in services competition at a retail level rather than compete over which can build the largest infrastructure. It also shows how such operators are looking to cut costs through such quasi-mergers of basic infrastructure to boost earnings as service revenues continue to come under pressure in flagging economies.

移動運營商之間的競爭逐漸轉向零售服務層面，它們不再相互攀比誰有能力建設規模最大的基礎設施。這件事同時顯示出，在疲弱經濟體帶來的營收持續面臨下行壓力之際，移動運營商是如何嘗試通過此類基本基礎設施上的準合併來削減成本和提高利潤的。

The deal will follow a similar merger of the 18,500 network sites owned by Telefonica and Vodafone in the UK, which analysts at Bernstein have estimated could save