Vodafone Netherlands and Dutch incumbent KPN are set to start an infrastructure sharing pilot in the country in September 2012, to examine future opportunities for collaboration.

The work extends an existing agreement for the co-location of some masts, and potential benefits are said to include “better coverage, lower network costs for operators and environmental benefits.” It was noted that, as a starting point, the quality level delivered to consumers must remain the same or be improved.

The agreement follows several similar deals that Vodafone has inked for network sharing in recent months, across several of its operating markets.

On Friday, it confirmed a previously-reported deal with 3 Ireland to create a joint venture to manage shared physical infrastructure, with the companies pooling resources at approximately 2,000 locations across the country.

And in June 2012, Vodafone UK announced a partnership with O2 UK to create a shared network of 18,500 sites, in competition with the MBNL joint venture of Everything Everywhere and 3 UK.

The Dutch pilot is set to take “several months,” and the country’s competition and telecoms regulators have already been briefed on the work. Any continuation of the collaboration would also be presented to the watchdogs.