Ericsson, TeliaSonera claim world's first commercial LTE site

Ericsson and TeliaSonera say they have launched the world's first commercial Long Term Evolution (LTE) site in Stockholm, Sweden.

The site will be a part of a commercial network scheduled to go live in 2010. It's unclear how big the commercial site is, and a press release announcing the deployment is scant on details, such as coverage and data speeds.

But it appears to give Ericsson, which also has a big LTE deal with Verizon Wireless, some more bragging rights. "The unveiling of this site shows that LTE is no longer the story of the future; it is the story of today. Ericsson, as a leader in LTE development, is proud to work with TeliaSonera to bring a commercial LTE network to life," said Ulf Ewaldsson, vice president and head of product area radio at Ericsson, stated in the release.

TeliaSonera doled out the industry's first commercial LTE contracts to Ericsson and Huawei in January. The Scandinavian operator plans to roll out LTE service in Sweden and Norway. Ericsson is rolling out the network in Stockholm while Huawei is deploying the LTE network in Oslo, Norway.

For more:
- see this release [1]

Related articles:
TeliaSonera hands out industry's first commercial LTE contracts [2]
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson win Verizon LTE deal [3]
Rumor Mill: Did AT&T pick Ericsson, Alca-Lu, Huawei for LTE trial? [4]