Sweden – 4G in 100 Cities
Mobile phone companies in Sweden are pushing ahead with their 4G rollout and bringing 4G to 100 cities in Sweden.
In addition to Stockholm, the new 4G network will be available in Gothenburg, Malmo, Karlskrona and Lund by the end of this year. Other Swedish cities will follow until 99% of the Swedish population can access 4G coverage by 2013.
The network is a joint operation between Tele 2 and Telenor and based on LTE, rather than WiMAX technology.
4G Phone UK Test
UK mobile operator, O2, is trialling a 4G phone network in the town of Slough.
O2 is using Chinese company Huawei as its technology partner in the 4G test which uses six mobile phone towers across the town to provide the network.
Assuming the trials go well, a 4G UK mobile phone network could start becoming a reality in 2011.
Italy 4G Trial
Italian mobile phone operator Telecom Italia has started testing 4G technology in the city of Turin, in the north of Italy.
Conducted with Telecom Italia’s technology partner Huawei, the tests use 14 new LTE mobile phone towers clustered around central Turin. Telecom Italia recently launched a HSPA+ mobile phone service for Milan (also in the north of Italy) giving theoretical download speeds of up to 28Mbps.
Finland Awards 4G Licenses
Finland has awarded four licenses to develop 4G networks – three based on LTE technology and one based on WiMAX.
A total of €3.8 million / $5.7 million was bid in the auction, which was much smaller than other mobile frequency auctions held in Sweden and Norway.
Swedish / Finnish mobile operator TeliaSonera and Finnish companies Elisa and DNA will each build a 4G LTE network, while Pirkanmaan Verkko will develop a WiMAX service for Finland.
The first of the 4G services is expected on line next year.
Finland 4G Auction
Finland will start auctioning licenses this week to operate 4G networks in the country.
The base cost of each license will be around €350,000, taking into consideration starting costs for frequencies and fees for taking part in the auction. This is a change from the 3G auction that took place at the start of the decade where network space was given away for free to mobile operators judged to be the most capable by the government of Finland.
Other Nordic 4G auctions have netted €25 million and €230 million in Norway and Sweden, respectively.
Vodafone 4G – Not Until 2011 / 2012
Vodafone seems to be in no hurry to roll out a 4G phone network. Although Vodafone is currently testing a 4G network in Germany its CEO, Vittorio Colao, says the phone company would not need to commercially launch 4G until the end of 2011 or 2012.
Instead, Vodafone may increase 3G speed before 4G was needed, he said.
Around 40% of the Vodafone network has been upgraded to 7.2 Mbit/s with plans for 21 Mbit/s (HSPA+) hotspots.
Ireland Gets 4G
Irish mobile phone operator Imagine is upgrading its 3G network to 4G WiMAX. It’s also cutting prices by half.
The rollout of the Imagine WiMAX service is already underway and the first phase – covering 250,000 homes in Dublin, Wexford, Sligo, Tralee and Athlone will be completed next month.
The company says the new 4G network won’t only be for high population areas. It intends to supply the service to smaller towns and rural areas of Ireland at the rate of 15 new coverage areas a month, with the aim of providing high speed mobile broadband to 90% of Ireland by 2012.
Alcatel-Lucent: 4G in Germany by end of 2010
Alcatel-Lucent, which has a 4G testing station setup in Stuttgart, Germany to demo LTE mobile solutions to European phone operators, is pleased with the initial results. That’s according to Erich Zielinski, Alcatel-Lucent’s chief for end-to-end 4G solutions, reported in Telecompaper.
Zielinski also predicts the first LTE services to be available in Germany by the end of 2010.
