Telenor launches Scandinavia’s largest 5G pilot in Norway

The 5G pilot opened in the in Norwegian municipality of Elverum, is also the largest pilot 5G project in Scandinavia.

“Connectivity is fundamental to modern societies and with 5G we open up for completely new experiences and applications for our customers and partners. Exploring this technology here in Norway means that we can learn, test and continuously improve as we gradually introduce 5G to our markets,” said Sigve Brekke, Telenor Group president and CEO, as he participated in the first live 5G video call in Norway. 

With the new pilot, Telenor becomes the first operator in Norway to integrate 5G into its mobile network. This means that anyone with access to a 5G mobile phone will soon be able to use the super network of the future in Elverum.

“This is an important day both for the residents of Elverum and us at Telenor. With the launch of Scandinavia’s largest 5G pilot, we have strengthened our commitment to 5G. The residents of Elverum have exciting times ahead of them, reaping the benefits of what next-generation mobile technology has to offer,” said Telenor Norway CEO Petter Furberg at the launch.

Telenor claims its pilot in Elverum is the most comprehensive 5G pilot run by the company and currently the largest in Scandinavia. Through the project, more than 50 pilot customers in the municipality will be connected to the 5G network. They will get to test 5G on mobile handsets, 5G via broadband and TV, as well as smart home solutions. Ericsson will be contributing both 5G network equipment and deployment.

Ericsson is collaborating with Telenor on 5G networks in Europe, said Jenny Lindqvist, head of Northern and Central Europe at Ericsson.

Telenor said it is committed to expansion of 5G apace with expansions to the network planned in several locations in Norway, including Trondheim and the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

Telenor also announced 10 Norwegian locations that will get 5G over the course of this year, which incluse Elverum, Fornebu, Trondheim, Bodø (selected base stations), Oslo (selected base stations), Askvoll, Svalbard, Kvitfjell, Herøya and Frøya.

This will be complimented by further pilots and partnerships in Scandinavia and Asia, the company stated. Earlier this year, Telenor Denmark announced commencement of 5G trials with Nokia, while in Asia this month, Telenor’s Malaysian operation, Digi, partnered with Cyberview to open a 5G lab in the country. The ‘OpenLab’ will be a collaborative space for businesses academics and developers to test new 5G use cases.