UPDATE: Nokia Siemens Wins TeliaSonera Swedish Gear Contract

22nd Jun 2010 14:53

(Adds detail.) By Gustav Sandstrom Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Telecom equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks will provide equipment for TeliaSonera AB's (TLSN.SK) fourth-generation network in Gothenburg, the Swedish operator told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday. The vendor, a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Germany's Siemens AG (SI), will provide gear such as base stations for the radio network in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city, TeliaSonera press spokeswoman Charlotte Zuger said. TeliaSonera late last year launched the world's first commercial fourth-generation mobile broadband networks in Stockholm and in Norway's capital Oslo. The fourth-generation networks, built on the Long Term Evolution technology standard, offer data speeds around 10 times higher than those of third-generation mobile broadband. Nokia Siemens and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson (ERIC) were previously selected to provide radio networks for the LTE rollout in Sweden's 25 largest municipalities throughout 2010 and 2011, but TeliaSonera hasn't previously said how they would be allocated. Ericsson has so far been selected to provide the radio networks in Stockholm and the town of Visby, and to build the common core network. The Swedish 4G deals were important wins for Nokia Siemens and Ericsson in their battle with Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co., which got the contract for TeliaSonera's 4G network in Oslo. Industry watchers expect the number of 4G connections to grow rapidly in coming years as operators including U.S.-based Verizon Wireless and Japan's NTT Docomo (9437.TO) start rolling out the services. Research institute IDATE forecasts the number of Long Term Evolution subscribers will grow from around 100,000 in 2010 to 380 million in 2015. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD). The rollout in Gothenburg will start in the third quarter 2010, Charlotte Zuger said Tuesday, and other contracts will be awarded in stages. In a press release later Tuesday, TeliaSonera said the Gothenburg contract with Nokia Siemens will run for two years. No financial details were provided. "The demand for ultra high-speed mobile broadband is significantly increasing in Sweden, and after TeliaSonera's world premiere last year with 4G services, we are now continuing a fast roll out in Sweden," TeliaSonera's head of Mobility Services Sweden said in the release. In the Swedish 4G launch, Nokia Siemens is providing TeliaSonera with its Flexi Multiradio base station, which is more energy efficient than previous generations, as well as network integration services and management systems, Nokia Siemens press spokesman Ben Roome said Tuesday. -By Gustav Sandstrom, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3099; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 22, 2010 09:53 ET (13:53 GMT)