German independent telecom operator 1&1 Drillisch and Telefónica Germany on Monday announced that they are extending their long-term partnership by converting the current MBA MVNO contract into a National Roaming Agreement (NRA).
Now, the parties are aiming to finalise the contractual details of the NRA by mid-May 2021. The NRA underpins the strategic goals of both parties with Telefónica Germany gaining increased visibility with regards to its financial and network planning while 1&1 Drillisch can approach its own network rollout.
The NRA has an initial contract period of 5 years, retroactively starting 1 July 2020, and may be extended twice. First, 1&1 Drillisch has an option to extend until mid-2029. For the period thereafter, a further extension for up to 5 years is possible. For the initial contract period, the commercial terms are defined assuming significant mobile traffic growth in Telefónica Deutschland's network.
National roaming services include available 2G/3G/4G coverage while MBA MVNO services continue to include Telefónica Deutschland's available 2G/3G/4G/5G coverage. After a defined transition period to migrate existing customers to its own 5G network, 1&1 Drillisch relies on its own 5G coverage. Until completion of 1&1 Drillisch's customer migration, national roaming and MBA MVNO services run in parallel.