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Two of the world’s largest mobile phone operators, the Spanish company Telefónica and the British giant Vodafone Group, said Monday that they would share infrastructure in some European markets in a move meant to cut costs as the economic downturn erodes their profits.

The companies said they had agreed to share networks in Britain, Germany, Ireland and Spain, and were in “detailed discussions” about doing so in the Czech Republic. In practice, the agreement means the companies will jointly build sites or consolidate existing 2G and 3G antenna mast sites and infrastructure, reducing the total number of cellphone antenna masts in operation.

The companies said they would continue to manage their call traffic independently, but they said they were also considering possible cooperation in the provision of transmission services.

Vodafone, based in Newbury, England, has about 289 million customers around the world. Telefónica, based in Madrid, has about 260 million customers in its fixed, broadband and mobile phone businesses.

Investors greeted the news coolly. Shares of Telefónica rose 1 percent in Madrid, while shares of Vodafone ticked up less than 1 percent in London.

Matthew Key, chief executive of Telefónica Europe, said in a statement that Telefónica and Vodafone would “continue to compete strongly against each other in local markets, while giving our customers enhanced mobile coverage in more places, using fewer mast sites.” Shareholders will benefit, he said, because “by reducing our costs in areas of the business that customers don’t see, we can ensure that we invest in areas they truly value.”

Michel Combes, chief executive of Vodafone Europe, said in the statement that the move would “enable us to focus our resources on developing more innovative and market leading services while delivering on our pledge to reduce the environmental impact of our network roll out.”

AT&T stores today began selling the new BlackBerry Bold smart phone for $300, after a $100 mail-in rebate and a commitment to a two-year voice and data plan.

The phone operates exclusively in the U.S. on AT&T networks, including its 3G service over HSDPA, which is available in 320 cities, AT&T Inc. officials said in a statement. It also comes with GPS and Wi-Fi. The device is also available online from AT&T.

An AT&T spokesman said three hours after sales began on the East Coast that he had no reports of problems with set-up or network access. Lines to buy the device were not expected, analysts said, since the Bold is one of several new smart phones to hit the market in recent months.

While Apple stores saw long lines for the iPhone 3G when it arrived in stores in July, there were short lines at nearly all locations for the first day of sales of the T-Mobile G1, which runs on the Android operating system, when it went on sale last month.

Jeff Bradley, senior vice president for devices at AT&T Wireless, called the Bold the “best BlackBerry smart phone ever,” noting in a statement that it has a variety of pre-loaded applications such as AT&T Navigator, Yellowpages.com Mobile, and access to music and video clips. AT&T has described the device as a well-rounded handset for business and consumer users with access to e-mail, voice, Web browsing, and features such as music and video.

There are 18 applications focused on business users, who work in such areas as health care, financial services, field sales and service and CRM, AT&T said. Bold also works with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, offering IT administration and security for Lotus Domino, Exchange and Novell GroupWise, as well as BlackBerry Professional, an application for smaller businesses. The Bold also supports the BlackBerry Internet Service, offering push-based e-mail for as many as 10 e-mail accounts.

The Bold is black with a chrome frame and a VGA display with a full QWERTY keyboard for fast typing. It comes with a 624-MHz processor, 1GB of internal storage and a 16GB expansion slot, and a 2-megapixel camera.

Customers who buy an unlimited data plan with the Bold (starting at $30 a month) can get free AT&T Wi-Fi service at 17,000 locations, including Starbucks outlets. Voice and data plans are required for two years with purchase of the phone, and voice plans start at $40 a month.

The Bold was previously known as the BlackBerry 9000.