TeliaSonera signs world’s first 4G mobile broadband deals with Ericsson and Huawei

In its bid to become among the first operators in the world to launch 4G, Swedish-Norwegian to enable it to meet its scheduled 4G roll-out in Stockholm and Oslo commercially in 2010.

The contracts are said to mark a significant step in TeliaSonera's evolution to the next generation network.

TeliaSonera has chosen Ericsson for the initial 4G city network in Stockholm and Huawei for the initial 4G city network in Oslo, while the evaluation of suppliers for its 4G networks in the Nordic and Baltic countries are said to be on.

The 4G / LTE system is based on 3GPP standards for long term evolution (LTE) radio technology and system architecture evolution (SAE) core technology, which Ericsson and Huawei, will supply.

They will provide an environmentally friendly end-to-end LTE solution including LTE base stations, core network and operating support system and also provide services including network design, implementation, systems integration and support.

TeliaSonera provides telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, in Spain and the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, with a subscriber base of approximately 115 million. It provides telecommunications services, including packaging and carrying content including sound, images, data, information, transactions and entertainment.

TeliaSonera said in a statement, 4G will offer customers a whole new mobility experience using mobile broadband services. "It will be a joy connecting to services demanding large data volumes or fast data traffic. 4G will be suitable for media and interactive services for which timing on the second is essential."

''We have chosen Ericsson to deliver the initial 4G city network in Stockholm and Huawei for the initial 4G city network in Oslo. Now, TeliaSonera continues the evaluation of suppliers to deliver 4G networks in the Nordic and Baltic countries, says Lars Klasson, senior vice president and CTO, mobility services, TeliaSonera.''

TeliaSonera was formed in 2002 with the merger between the Swedish and Finnish telecommunications companies, Telia and Sonera, shortly after Telia's failed merger with Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, now its chief competitor in the Nordic countries.