KPN announced plans to start upgrading its mobile network this month. Cabinets will be replaced at 3,900 sites, as will all 11,500 antennas. Base station controllers will also be replaced with new equipment. KPN said it's starting on a small scale, with the work ramping up through early 2014. It aims for as little disruption to services as possible, for example by disabling only one antenna site at any given time in a region. KPN is in talks with Vodafone Netherlands on sharing both tower sites as well as equipment such as power supply and cooling. In September they will start a small pilot on infrastructure sharing. The form of the cooperation will need to meet approval from the spectrum agency Agentschap Telecom and competition regulator NMa.
