Disqus
Mobile News is all over a couple of stories relating to a reduction in the number of both high street stores, and base stations, resulting from the merger of Orange and T-Mobile.
If they have their numbers right (and I’d expect they do), then 120 T-Mob/Orange stores will be closing, meaning a saving of £85mn in terms of operational and distribution costs. The remaining combined real estate will amount to 613 stores. However this is small fry combined to the total combined savings for the networks – ready for this – clocking in at a massive £3.5bn! Holy monkeys!
Another part of the cost-cutting is the reduction in base stations – and you can imagine there are some major savings to be made here too, since each network would be covering many of the same areas – or in other words, duplication. Here things will take slightly longer to implement (cell planning is a delicate art in my experience), saving £145mn from 2014. Interestingly, it’s the mainly 2G base stations that are getting the chop, whilst 3G base stations will be built out. Not a surprise, but interesting, since I’d have imagined the 2G network is typically wider spread for most operators – so surely reducing coverage? Hmm, I’m sure they’ll plan it out 
So overall that’s some serious money saving – that figure again – £3.5bn!
[Via: Mobile News & Mobile News]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
