(Telecompaper) Telefonica Germany announced plans to begin its Germany-wide consolidation of the UMTS and GSM networks of O2 and E-Plus in January. In parallel, the company continues to rapidly expand its LTE network and also plans to enable joint LTE use from mid-2016. The network integration in 2016 will focus on the densely populated urban areas. In the first year of the network integration, Telefonica Deutschland already aims to reach more than 60 percent of the population with its new, integrated network. The network integration is expected to take five years to complete.