Telenor and Telia start Oslo 4G rollout
Norwegian telecom incumbent Telenor and Teliasonera's Netcom have started rolling out what they claim will be the world's first commercial 4G network.
Both hope that the networks, which will offer mobile broadband speeds of 100mbps using LTE technology, will be available commercially in Oslo in 2010. Today's 3G networks offer speeds of roughly 7.2mbps.
The two companies won't reveal how much the deployment will cost. However, both have invested Nkr13.3bn and Nkr10bn in their Norwegian mobile networks since 1999, say local reports.
Teliasonera contracted Huawei to deploy the network, while Ericsson will build the company's 4G network in Stockholm.
Netcom and Telenor are among five 4G licence owners in Norway. The others are Hafslund Telekom, Artic Wireless and Craig Wireless Systems.
4G can be deployed using the LTE standard or WiMAX. The technology is not yet set to replace its 3G counterpart, however. 4G is mainly aimed at data usage and will mostly benefit mobile broadband coverage. Also, the high frequency it uses today means that its deployment is more expensive and only available for dense areas at the moment.
