Major telecoms operators and online content providers, including Google, Yahoo and Facebook, will reach an investment partnership agreement this year, El Economista reports, citing Telefonica's chairman Cesar Alierta. The statement was made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Telefonica mulls an agreement with content providers to share the costs of having their information carried over the telecoms operators' networks. "2011 will be an important year because we will reach an agreement. We are in talks with everyone and negotiations are gaining momentum." Telefonica's chairman anticipates a new strategy of "cooperation with other industry players to capture all the opportunities provided by the new digital world." Alierta cited analysts' estimates that European telecommunications operators will need to invest nearly EUR 240 billion over the coming years. The largest part of the overall amount will be invested in the expansion of fibre optic networks to households and mobile networks upgrades. "We need new business models – where the cooperation between different industry players is essential as well as improving relations with content providers – to guarantee the growth and sustainability of the global internet ecosystem," Alierta added.
