Telefonica’s German operation will use parts of Deutsche Telekom’s network infrastructure in the near future, in a move that will allow the O2 network in Germany to carry more data at greater speeds.

The two operators have signed a long-term deal in which Telefonica will lease high-speed fibre-optic connections from Deutsche Telekom to link up to 2,000 mobile masts at points of data concentration to its core network. The first connections should be in place by the second quarter of 2012.

The data at Telefonica's UMTS and LTE stations will gradually be transferred to Deutsche Telekom’s network and then transported onto the O2 core network. The transmission rates for UMTS and LTE sites over the next few years will therefore increase.

"The agreement with Telekom gives us the chance to operate cost-efficiently, quickly and flexibly in the rapidly growing market for mobile data,” Telefónica Germany CEO René Schuster said.

"To be able to exploit synergies in broadband expansion, network operators have to work together. And Telekom is willing to do that,” Telekom board member responsible for the German business, Niek Jan van Damme, added.