O2 Slovakia has failed to reach any agreement on network sharing with Orange Slovakia, despite negotiations reportedly having reached a late stage, which means it will have to build an LTE network alone, reports Zive.sk. O2 will thus not be able to meet the target of covering 50 percent of the population by the end of the year, but it would still like to cover several big cities. O2's current plan is to cover more than 25 percent of population this year.
In an interview with the director of networks at O2 Jan Zdarsky, Zive.sk found out about its plans for its 2G and 3G networks, as well as 4G roaming and VoLTE. Zdarsky has been working in the field of mobile networks operation since 1996, when he started at Eurotel Praha, the first Czech mobile operator and the predecessor to Telefonica Czech Republic.
For five years, he worked on various projects in Colombia, the US, Sweden and Brazil. In 2008 he came back to the Czech Republic, at that time to Telefonica. In 2011 he joined O2 Slovakia and in January 2013, he became director of networks.
In the interview he said that the network sharing contract with Orange was not completed because of technology obstacles that could not be overcome, despite efforts by both operators. As a result, the parties ended their negotiations. O2 revised its plan for construction until 2018. By the end of 2015, LTE will be available in all the regional capitals and in Poprad, Zvolen, Povazska Bystrica, Martin and Prievidza.
O2 is building its LTE network in the band 800 MHz, which can offer downloads at 73 Mbps and 23 Mbps for uploads. O2 plans to test VoLTE before the end of the year. The issue is the small number of telephones that currently support the technology. The most important part of LTE network construction is strengthening the transport network.
The operator reached 65 percent coverage through its 3G network by the end of April. By the end of 2015, O2 wants to cover about 70 percent of the population with its own network. O2's plan is to cover 90 percent of the population by its LTE network by 2019. The operator does not plan to increase its 3G speeds. Instead, it is testing LTE-Advanced, currently in the Czech Republic, and will do so later in Slovakia, too.
In September 2014, O2 announced an exchange of 2G transmitters. Today, 2G is available to 98.1 percent of the population, including national roaming from Slovak Telekom. O2 is running a complex upgrade of the network, which will be done in 130 locations in 2015. O2 would like to maintain its national roaming with Slovak Telekom, as an efficient form of cooperation. The operator's GSM network covers something more than 96 percent of the population.
