Spain's Telefonica and Britain's Vodafone have struck a deal to share and build infrastructure in Spain, Germany, Ireland and Britain in a move aimed at cutting costs.

'It is foreseen that this programme could generate significant benefits including estimated cost savings in the region of hundreds of millions of euros for both companies in the next 10 years,' the pair said in a joint statement.

They said they were also studying further cost savings in other related areas.

In Germany, the companies will share their 2G and 3G mobile networks. In Ireland, they will share their existing networks and will roll out future infrastructure jointly, they said. In Spain, where the operators signed a deal in 2007 to share electricity, equipment and masts, the pair will share new sites this year and next, and in Britain, the companies will build new infrastructure together and will consolidate existing 2G and 3G infrastructures.

 Telefonica shares rose 1.62 per cent to €15.04 at the news, while Vodafone rose 2.46 per cent to 122.90 pence. X