TeliaSonera has announced the launch of the world’s first 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network in Sweden and Norway, using Samsung’s commercial 4G LTE dongles.
4G offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, ten times faster than current 3G services from TeliaSonera.
“We are very excited to be part of the world’s first LTE commercial service from TeliaSonera. It is a truly historic step forward in the mobile industry,” added JK Shin, executive vice president and head of the Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “As an industry leader and innovator, Samsung will continue to offer the most advanced mobile technology to satisfy consumers’ unmet needs.”
“We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services. Thanks to the successful cooperation with Samsung we can offer 4G to our customers in Sweden and Norway earlier than originally planned,” notes Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera.
The dongle can be connected to any portable device (notebook, netbook, tablet) via USB and should have backwards compatibility with 3G, HSPA, and EDGE services.
There are currently no phones that can handle the 4G but 2010 should see a change to that.
Result for: teliasonera
The the unlimited music streaming service Spotify has signed their second (and only active) ISP deal today, making a two-year contract with Swedish-based TeliaSonera.
The deal will bring the service to Sonera’s customers via PC and mobile phones. The ISP says it will eventually be available via TV as well.
The service will come bundled with Sonera broadband packages or data plans. “We will have very good deals with Spotify Premium, special Spotify phones and mobile surfing packages,” says the company.
TeliaSonera head of broadband services at Stefan Trampus adds, via MW: “We are both able and willing to bring Spotify to the Swedish people and increase the interest in a simple, safe and completely legal way of listening to music.”
“We want to make it possible for even more people to be able to use Spotify. That is why we are extremely pleased about this cooperation agreement. Telia’s strong market position will enable use to reach out on a much wider scope than before,” says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.
Result for: teliasonera
The large Swedish-Finnish-based telecom operator TeliaSonera has announced that it has struck a deal with Apple to bring the popular iPhone to Northern European markets.
In its press release the company says “later this year” the carrier will begin selling the phone in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
When asked for more details, the carrier refused any more comment, and so there are no pricing models available as of yet.
Over the past month (see related news below), Apple has been striking deals with various carriers to bring the iPhone worldwide, hitting every continent minus Antarctica.
Orange has signed up to sell the phone in at least 12 markets in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Vodafone is set to sell the phone in 10 countries including markets in South Africa and Australia. other providers have also inked deals to sell the phone in Singapore, India, the Philippines. Notably however, deals have fallen apart in the giant markets of Japan and China, but many still feel there is a chance they can be signed by the end of 2008.
