Dow Jones Newswires reports that China has ordered the country’s three mobile operators to share infrastructure in an effort to save costs on the rollout of 3G networks. The report states the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will set up a task force of officials from the Ministry, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and the country’s three operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – to implement the arrangement. Infrastructure to be shared in the initial stage includes telecommunication towers and pole pipelines. The sharing of base stations and other transmission infrastructure will reportedly be implemented in phases. Penalties are expected to be imposed on companies that do not follow the order.

The move is significant as China is the world’s largest mobile market with 585 million subscribers as of end Q2 this year, according to Wireless Intelligence. However the country is yet to issue commercial 3G licenses, and it is therefore hoped the agreement will speed up rollout of 3G services following the market’s recent restructuring. Network sharing has been implemented elsewhere in the world, with one high-profile example being a joint-venture between T-Mobile UK and 3 UK.