Sweden’s TeliaSonera launches world’s first 4G services
14 Dec 2009
TeliaSonera, the largest provider of telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries has launched the world's first 4G services or commercial LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks, in the central parts of Stockholm and Oslo.
The year 2010 has long been proclaimed as the year of LTE deployment with wider deployments in around 2012, but TeliaSonera has managed to beat other rivals to that deadline by 17 days.
The two pioneering 4G city networks will cover the central city areas of Stockholm and Oslo and will be used for mobile data. 4G is the fastest mobile technology available on the market, with speeds up to ten times higher than today's turbo 3G.
Sweden's Ericsson has supplied the Stockholm 4G city network, while the Oslo 4G city network is supplied by Huawei. The modems are supplied by Samsung.
In its bid to become among the first operators in the world to launch 4G, TeliaSonera had chosen Ericsson for the initial 4G city network in Stockholm and Huawei for the initial 4G city network in Oslo in January 2009. (See: TeliaSonera signs world's first 4G mobile broadband deals with Ericsson and Huawei)
The Stockholm-based TeliaSonera with 2008 revenue of $14 billion said that the evaluation of suppliers for TeliaSonera's common 4G core network and radio networks in the Nordic and Baltic countries is in progress and vendors will be selected in the beginning of 2010.
