Telcos stall 3G agreement

Spanish telco Telefonica, German telephony group E Plus and Finland's Sonera have failed to reach a 3G network sharing agreement in Germany.

The statement released by Telefonica confirmed the companies are in talks but emphasised that an agreement has yet to be reached.

The statement follows reports last month that Telefonica and Sonera's German arm JV Group 3G had reached a preliminary sharing deal with another German operator.

Since regulators Oftel in the UK and Reg TP in Germany gave the go-ahead for network sharing earlier in the summer many 3G rivals have struck deals to share resources.

To off-set the massive costs of 3G licences, which were £22.48bn in the UK alone, BT and Deutsche Telekom for example, announced in June that they will co-operate with the building of 3G networks.

But those wishing to go solo - such as Vodafone - have indicated they may sue if they believe their rivals have broken the terms of their original licence agreements.