Telefonica today announced an agreement to transfer 7,700 mobile sites to Deutsche Telekom in Germany, as it scales back on redundant network infrastructure following its acquisition of E-Plus.

In a statement, Telefonica said the move to transfer mobile sites “realises a part of the announced synergies from the network integration”, following the completion of its E-Plus acquisition in October last year.

The infrastructure in question are primarily rooftop-sites, and Telefonica will still use them without restrictions “until they become unnecessary through integration of O2 and E-Plus networks”, according to the company.

Telefonica vowed to make several concessions in order to get the green light for the deal. It is also looking to achieve more than €5 billion of synergies.

In transferring the assets to Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica can reallocate resources it would have used to dismantle these redundant transmitters to expand its LTE network, it said in a statement. For Deutsche Telekom, the move means it too can realise its network expansion even faster and optimise its mobile network.

“The agreement with Deutsche Telekom has clear advantages for all concerned,” said Cayetano Carbajo Martin, CTO at Telefonica Deutschland. “Our efforts for eliminating redundant mobile telecommunications sites will be reduced significantly. In the interests of our customers this allows us an even stronger concentration on the future-orientated LTE roll out.”

Financial details regarding the deal remain undisclosed, and the move still requires regulatory approval.

Telefonica said it still has access to more than 25,000 sites in Germany.