Due to economy of scale property of telecommunication industry, sharing of telecom infrastructure among telecom service providers is becoming the requirement and process of business in the telecom industry where competitors are becoming partners in order to lower their increasing investments. The degree and method of infrastructure sharing can vary in each country depending on regulatory and competitive climate.

Regulatory View

The Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 (FCC), as an independent agency of the United States government, was established by the Communications Act of 1934

Communications Act of 1934

The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law, enacted as Public Law Number 416, Act of June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, by the 73rd Congress, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, et seq. The Act replaced the...

. As the successor to the Federal Radio Commission

Federal Radio Commission

The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...

, FCC is taking charge of regulating all non-federal government use of the radio spectrum

Spectrum

A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...

(including radio and television broadcasting), and all interstate telecommunications (broadband, wireless and satellite) as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States.

In 1996, The U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996

Telecommunications Act of 1996

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...

, which was later recognised as a watershed of competitive environment of US telecommunication industry. It ultimately terminated the monopoly situation by introducing competition into the market, which was started by the deregulation of infrastructure. As specified in Telecommunications Act of 1996, all incumbent local exchange carriers have the following obligations:

• Interconnection--the duty to provide, for the facilities or equipment of any requesting TCC, interconnection with the LEC network.(Section 251 (c))
• Access to rights of way--the duty to afford access to the poles, ducts, conduits ... at nondiscriminatory rates consistent with (Section 224)
• Reciprocal compensation arrangements--the duty to establish reciprocal compensation arrangements for the transport and termination of telecommunications.(Section 251(b))

For the benefit of sharing infrastructure, new entrants are able to enter the market by sharing (leasing) network without building their own ones.

Advantages

Infrastructure sharing limits duplication and gears investment toward underserved areas, product innovation, and improved customer service.

Traditionally, telecommunication development shows economy of scale and telecom operator spending has been dominated by considerable investment of technology and infrastructure. Given that such investments are fixed

Fixed cost

In economics, fixed costs are business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business. They tend to be time-related, such as salaries or rents being paid per month, and are often referred to as overhead costs...

, sunk and irreversible, they represent a high risk factor. Maintaining and upgrading infrastructure make this risk even higher. For example, fixed network operators are migrating to next-generation networks, after most mobile network operators have already deployed the third-generation(3G

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

) infrastructures. Therefore, infrastructure sharing can significantly reduce entrance and development risk.

Infrastructure sharing also has great impact on competition. Market becomes more attractive to new players for decreased entrance barriers

Barriers to entry

In theories of competition in economics, barriers to entry are obstacles that make it difficult to enter a given market. The term can refer to hindrances a firm faces in trying to enter a market or industry - such as government regulation, or a large, established firm taking advantage of economies...

. Such players can enrich the competition while investing effectively. By alleviating pressure of network deployment, sharing allows operators to turn their attention to improved innovation, better customer service and eventually better commercial offerings and healthier competition.

Telecom Infrastructure

Basically a cell site

Cell site

A cell site is a term used to describe a site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed, usually on a radio mast, tower or other high place, to create a cell in a cellular network...

 consists of electronic (active) and non-electronic infrastructure.

• Electronic infrastructure includes base tower station, microwave radio equipment, switches, antennas, transceivers for signal processing and transmission.
• Non-electronic infrastructure includes tower, shelter, air-conditioning equipments, diesel electric generator, battery, electrical supply, technical premises and easements & pylons that account for nearly 60 percent of network rollout costs. See Base Station subsystem
  Base Station Subsystem
  The base station subsystem is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the network switching subsystem...
  
   and Base Transceiver Station
  Base Transceiver Station
  A base transceiver station or cell site is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones , WLL phones, computers with wireless internet connectivity, WiFi and WiMAX gadgets etc...
  
  .

Infrastructure Sharing

Telecom service providers can share infrastructure in many ways, depending on telecom regulatory and legislation.

• Passive Infrastructure sharing is sharing non-electronic infrastructure at cell site. Passive Infrastructure is becoming popular in telecom industry world wide.
  • Site sharing includes antennas and mast; this may also hold Base transceiver station
    Base Transceiver Station
    A base transceiver station or cell site is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones , WLL phones, computers with wireless internet connectivity, WiFi and WiMAX gadgets etc...
    
     (BTS), Node B in UMTS context and common equipments such as Antenna system, masts, cables,ducts, filters, power source and shelter.
  • Sharing a mast is called mast sharing.
  • Antenna sharing shares an antenna and all related connections (coupler, feeder cable), in addition to passive radio site elements.

• Active sharing is sharing electronic infrastructure.
• Spectrum-sharing concept is based on a lease model and is often termed ‘spectrum trading’. An operator can lease a part of its spectrum to another operator on commercial terms. Though this mechanism, along with that of MVNOs
  Mobile virtual network operator
  A mobile virtual network operator is a company that provides mobile phone services but does not have its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum, nor does it necessarily have all of the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone service...
  
  , exists in the US, Europe, Singapore and Australia.
  • Frequency Sharing.
• Base station sharing is prospective while each operator maintains control over logical Node B so that it will be able to operate the frequencies assigned to the carrier, fully independent from the partner operator and retains control over active base station equipment such as the TRX
  TRX
  The three-letter abbreviation TRX may refer to:* Michelin TRX, a radial tire produced from 1975 primarily for high-performance automobiles* Transceiver, a combination of a transmitter and a receiver* TraXion, a defunct Danish railway company...
  
  s that control reception/transmission over radio channels. Radio network controller and core network
  Core network
  A core network, or network core, is the central part of a telecommunication network that provides various services to customers who are connected by the access network. One of the main functions is to route telephone calls across the PSTN....
  
   are not shared here.
• RNC
  RNC
  RNC may refer to:*Radio Network Controller, a governing element of a mobile phone network*Radio Nishinippon Broadcasting, a radio and television company in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan...
  
   (Radio Network Controller) sharing represents maintaining logical control over the RNC of each operator independently.
• MSC and Routers sharing or backbone sharing includes sharing switches (MSC) and routers (SGSN) on the operator's fixed network.
• Network Sharing where a network infrastructure is created expressly for the purpose of sharing resources. For example in Sweden 70% of the country is covered by a shared network built as a joint venture between Telenor Sweden (originally Vodafone Sweden) and HI3G (Hutcheson Investor). When a user is in one of the main cities his calls are carried by the native network infrastructure of Telenor or HI3G while outside the cities his call roams onto the shared network provided by 3GIS.
• Geographical Splitting

External Links

• Site Share
• TRAI proposes sharing of telecom infrastructure - The Hindu
  The Hindu
  The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
  
  , April 12, 2007