Finland moves closer to LTE

Finland has a long history of innovation in the mobile market. It was the first country in Europe to issue 3G licences, and when it awarded four national licences on 20-year terms in March 1999 it did so free of charge and without launch deadlines − the only cost was the €1,000/25KHz administration fee.

 

These arrangements contrasted with those in most other European countries, where massive fees were charged for acquiring 3G spectrum, and deadlines were imposed, subject to penalty, for rolling out infrastructure and starting commercial services. Across Europe, a number of network operators soon went to the wall, while most others have been saddled with servicing the extraordinary debt obligations for at eight years or more.

 

Times have changed and now lower (and more advantageous) frequencies are being made available at a fraction of the price of the 2GHz and 2.1GHz bands initially set aside for 3G. Finland also pioneered the use of 900MHz spectrum for 3G, which can provide area coverage between two and four-times larger than 2.1GHz, thus significantly reducing network deployment costs in rural areas. Elisa, TeliaSonera and DNA all have extensive 3G network coverage using 900MHz spectrum.

 

Higher frequency spectrum, in the 2.5-2.69GHz band, has also been utilised: the recent auction for 20-year licences –which raised €3.8 million – saw Elisa allocated 50MHz of spectrum, TeliaSonera five blocks of 2x5MHz spectrum and DNA 40MHz of spectrum. DNA planned to place customers on its extensive HSPA+ network using the new frequency, providing up to 21Mb/s, before migrating to LTE during 2010, when data rates of up to 100Mb/s should be available. TeliaSonera is in a position to migrate to LTE sooner (by early 2010), though as ever network roll-out will depend on customer demand and the availability of compatible equipment.

 

For more information, see:

• Finland - Mobile Market - Overview, Statistics & Forecasts ;
• Europe - Mobile Market - Mobile Data.