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Rural broadband is a key justification for new wireless build-out in many European countries but the commercial challenges of serving sparsely populated areas remain - so network sharing is likely to be a key trend. In Germany, the three holders of 800MHz spectrum are accelerating their LTE tests but also in talks about a shared RAN; and in France, three players are to share a rural 3G network in refarmed GSM bands.

Nokia Siemens has announced that it will upgrade the rural 2G network owned by SFR to support HSPA+ and this updated infrastructure will then be shared with the other two main cellcos, Orange and Bouygues Telecom. This will be among the first HSPA networks to be built in the 900MHz GSM spectrum, which many European regulators are now allowing to be refarmed for 3G.

France was one of the first to permit this, with an eye on universal coverage. Since this low frequency supports greater range and indoor penetration than the usual 3G bands, fewer cells are required and rural build-out can be achieved at significantly lower cost. The idea is to hit 3G coverage targets at last (in the higher bands these had often proved commercially non-viable), and to support national broadband plans. With the move to HSPA+, running between 14Mbps and 42Mbps or even more, carriers can add fixed access to their revenue models, and governments can come closer to their universal broadband objectives.

SFR will use NSN's Flexi Multiradio architecture, which the vendor said is "optimized to facilitate active radio network sharing, along with helping SFR meet its expansion targets on time". Under the scope of the three-year deal, NSN will deliver its Flexi Multiradio Base Station while deploying 3G/HSPA+ and modernizing SFR's existing GSM network. The vendor will also provide network implementation and managed services as part of the deal.

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