TeliaSonera and Ericsson have launched 4G services commercially to customers in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.
Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera said: "We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services. Thanks to the successful cooperation with Ericsson we can offer 4G to our customers in Stockholm earlier than originally planned."
Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson added: "The new era of mobile broadband has just begun today. With LTE, so-called 4G, your mobile broadband experience is moving to unequalled levels. The LTE speed gives you an absolutely effortless feeling of broadband access."
"Being first out with new technology gives us unique experience that we can use on all our markets. We will continue the roll-out to offer our customers new communication services for the future," continued Karlberg.
Downtown Stockholm is covered with the Ericsson LTE network, making it the largest LTE deployment to date. TeliaSonera's customers are the first to have access to the LTE service by commercially available Samsung LTE dongles.
The two 4G city networks 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 claimed speeds up to ten times higher than today's 'turbo' 3G.
TeliaSonera has three nationwide 4G/LTE licenses; in Sweden, Norway and also recently in Finland. The network roll out is in progress to offer 4G to Sweden's and Norway's largest cities.
Ericsson has completed commercialization of its LTE products and larger production is ready for further deployment. Interoperability is also said to be tested thoroughly with many different devices in different operators' networks.