By Margit Feher
BUDAPEST--Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) and Magyar Telekom Nyrt.
(MTELEKOM.BU) may share their 800 megahertz frequency networks to
provide a better mobile and data service with the mutual use of
each others' spectrum, Hungary's communications authority NMHH said
Wednesday.
Under the network-sharing agreement, which will expire in 2029,
the two companies will partially and mutually allow each other to
use their respective 800 MHz frequency, the licence to which they
won last year in a public tender for various unused broadband
frequencies.
Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Since Magyar Telekom is Hungary's biggest and Telenor is the
country's second-biggest mobile provider in terms of subscriber
numbers, the Hungarian competition office GVH is still to approve
the cooperation contract, the NMHH said.
As a result of the deal, the two companies will be able to
provide a Long-Term Evaluation, or LTE, mobile service that will
have more capacity and be more advanced technologically than if
they developed the service on their own, the NMHH said in a
statement.
LTE is often referred to as 4G services, a high-speed wireless
technology for mobile phones and data transmission.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com; Twitter:
@margitfeher