Nordic operator giants Telenor and Telia are to merge their mobile networks in Denmark in a renewed challenge to the Danish market-leader TDC. Norway’s Telenor and Sweden’s TeliaSonera said in a statement today that they have entered into an agreement to share their 2G (GSM), 3G (WCDMA) and 4G (LTE) networks in Denmark, and will set-up a “common infrastructure company” to build a joint network moving forward. The two operators have given each other access to existing towers in areas where they would each otherwise have had to build their own, while all future towers will be built jointly. The alliance aims to reduce both companies’ spending on mobile infrastructure and enable them to expand the joint network more quickly than they would have been able to do on their own.

Despite the new deal, the two operators said they would “continue as two independent providers and will in future also compete aggressively for customers through different products, services and prices.” They noted that the partnership only covers the radio access network, including the antennas, towers and transmission equipment that establish connections to mobile units. According to Wireless Intelligence data, Telenor Denmark is the country’s second-largest operator on 2 million connections at the end of the first quarter, while Telia is third on 1.4 million. They both trail market-leader TDC on 3.5 million.