Vodafone and Orange will begin sharing their mobile phone masts in the UK this year in a drive to cut costs and improve the quality of their network as demand for mobile data increases.

The two companies will share existing 2G and 3G mast sites, with one site housing the equipment of both companies where previously two would have been used. They expect to see 15 per cent fewer sites – 3,000 in total – in the first two years.