teliasonera

Intel among winners of 2.6 GHz spectrum in Sweden

Mon, 12 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Intel Capital was among the winners of Sweden's auction of he 2.6 GHz band, acquiring 50 MHz of TDD spectrum for $26.5 million. According to local press reports, Intel is seeking partners to build and operate a WiMAX network. The company, which recently plunked down $1 billion in the new Sprint-Clearwire WiMAX business, reportedly plans to rent out the license to partners rather than sell it.

Intel has made it clear the it isn't interested in becoming a service provider to push WiMAX. As part of the Clearwire deal, Intel has the option of wholesaling service from the new operator, but Intel Vice President Sriram Viswanathan told analysts that the company's primary focus "is to enable the platform to have WiMAX available across a variety of devices. You have to expect we're going to be primarily a technology supplier."

The other winners for 2.6 GHz spectrum, which is technology and service neutral, each acquired FDD allocations: H3G Access (2x10 MHz), Tele2 (2x20 MHz), Telenor (2x20 MHz) and TeliaSonera Mobile Networks (2x20 MHz).

TeliaSonera paid the most for its license, $93 million, while Intel paid the least. H3G Access, with only 20 MHz of spectrum, paid $49 million.

To read more about Sweden's 2.6 GHz auction:
- take a look at this telecoms.com article

Sonera looks to migrate fixed users to wireless

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

TeliaSonera's Finnish division, Sonera, has publicly admitted that it will begin migrating end users from its fixed network to its wireless businesses in rural areas. Sonera is seeking regulatory approval to migrate both voice and broadband users once wireless technology is available to make the transition.

"Instead of spending millions of euros to replace hundreds of thousands of telephone poles that are approaching the end of their lifecycle, Sonera has decided to invest in modern, wireless technology," said Juha-Pekka Weckström, senior vice-president of TeliaSonera Broadband Services Finland. "This allows us to safeguard the continuity of our customers' telecom services in sparsely-populated areas, and we are convinced that the customers will notice the benefits of the change," he added.

Sonera's move will likely make it the first former incumbent in Western Europe to adopted a fixed-to-mobile substitution plan publicly. The operator says that as much as half of its fixed network in sparsely populated areas is now idle as the number of customers drops by 10 percent to 15 percent a year.

In September, TeliaSonera made a deal in Finland to provision wireless broadband services from Digita Oy's Flash-OFDM broadband network that operates in the 450 MHz band. TeliaSonera is using the technology as a way to cost effectively extend the reach of its fixed broadband services in more difficult-to-reach areas of Finland.

For more about TeliaSonera's plans:
- read this analysis from Communications Direct

Related articles:
- TeliaSonera nears FMC launch Report
- TeliaSonera Finland uses Flash-OFDM as fixed play Report

T-Mobile Austria dumps Flash-OFDM plans

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:55 -0500

T-Mobile Austria announced it has canceled its plans to roll out a Flash-OFDM network in the country and returned its 450 MHz license to the country's telecom regulator. T-Mobile was going to use the technology to expand mobile broadband coverage to rural areas of Austria. It was going to be used as a complementary service to its HSDPA network.

The conditions of the license required the company to begin construction of the network by the end of last year. The company paid about $1 million for the license in 2006. T-Mobile already operates a Flash-OFDM network in Slovakia.

Flash-OFDM has for the most part fallen to the wayside since Qualcomm bought the business in early 2006. Qualcomm's intentions for the technology were never to keep it commercial but to use the technology's intellectual property as the world's operators are moving to an all-OFDM world. The technology took an unexpected turn last September when telecom heavyweight TeliaSonera Finland Oyj made a deal to provision wireless broadband services from Digita Oy's Flash-OFDM broadband network that operates in the 450 MHz band in Finland.

To read more about T-Mobile Austria's decision to dump its 450 MHz license:
- check out this article from cellular-news.com

Related articles:
A resurgence of Flash-OFDM? Editorial
TeliaSonera Finland uses Flash-OFDM as fixed play Report

ALSO NOTED: McDonald's to rollout free WiFi in UK; Cyren Call is public-safety liaison for 700 MHz auction; and much more...

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> McDonald's plans to roll out a free WiFi service across its 1,200 outlets in the UK. Article

> Cyren Call Communications will be the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp.'s primary liaison with commercial bidders of the 700 MHz public-safety spectrum. Article

> Ericsson and Svenska UMTS Nät AB (jointly owned by TeliaSonera and Tele2) have signed a contract for a nationwide rollout of HSPA in Sweden. Release

And Finally... ThinkGeek has introduced the WiFi Detector Shirt. Blog

A resurgence of Flash-OFDM?

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Flash-OFDM has pretty much fallen to the wayside since Qualcomm bought the business in early 2006. Qualcomm's intentions for the technology are clear on its website: "to expand its already extensive portfolio of OFDMA intellectual property and enhance Qualcomm's industry-leading R&D organization with expertise in OFDMA technology and products."

However, the technology took an unexpected turn last week when telecom heavyweight TeliaSonera Finland Oyj made a deal to provision wireless broadband services from Digita Oy's Flash-OFDM broadband network that operates in the 450 MHz band in Finland. TeliaSonera is using the technology as a way to cost effectively extend the reach of its fixed broadband services in more difficult-to-reach areas of Finland (See story No. 2).

Could Flash-OFDM be finally gaining some momentum now even though it appears Qualcomm isn't even pushing the technology?

Flash-OFDM has always been heralded as a superior technical solution for high-speed data but was stymied by its proprietary nature. For its part, Flarion had struggled to find a major operator willing to deploy a proprietary technology. On its own, Flarion had conducted a promising trial with Nextel Communications, but the carrier decided against adopting Flash-OFDM when it merged with Sprint. The technology was gaining some inroads into the public-safety sector when the District of Columbia in early 2004 launched a pilot high-speed wireless broadband network with Motorola and Flarion. Flarion also had pinned its hopes outside of the U.S. through trials with South Korea's SK Telecom, Europe's Vodafone and T-Mobile. Yet no major telecom operator ever made a solid commitment to the technology--until now. If all goes well, TeliaSonera Finland may offer a blueprint for others, plus give Qualcomm a better footing in Europe, where it has always sought a bigger footprint.

According to Bill Davidson, vice president of global marketing and investor relations, Flarion provided Qualcomm with 125 OFDMA-related patents (mostly having to do with handoff in a mobile environment) as well as skilled engineers needed to build up its OFDMA expertise as all mobile networks are expected to evolve into OFDMA. It is staying out of the WiMAX market, at least until it sees a substantial market for it, Davidson said. But Qualcomm probably didn't count on a potential market for Flash-OFDM itself. --Lynnette

TeliaSonera Finland uses Flash-OFDM as fixed play

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:59:56 -0400

Flash-OFDM technology, developed and championed by Qualcomm's Flarion business received a boost as TeliaSonera Finland Oyj made a deal to provision wireless broadband services from Digita Oy's Flash-OFDM broadband network that operates in the 450 MHz band in Finland. TeliaSonera is using the technology as a way to cost effectively extend the reach of its fixed broadband services in more difficult-to-reach areas of Finland.

"In the countryside, setting up a 450 base station is much more inexpensive than laying a copper cable, and in the future we will also be able to provide voice services through the base station at affordable prices," says Juha-Pekka Weckström, senior vice president of TeliaSonera Broadband Services Finland.

Digita launched its Flash-OFDM network in April, and now covers wide areas in southern Finland and areas from Oulu to Ivalo. The company's goal is to provide nationwide coverage by the end of 2009.

For more about TeliaSonera's plans for Flash-OFDM:
- take a look at this release

ALSO NOTED: FCC sets 700 MHz auction for Jan. 16; Beceem completes HARQ demos for WiMAX; and much more...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:51 -0400

> The FCC set the 700 MHz auction for Jan. 16. Article

> Beceem Communications announced it successfully completed HARQ demonstrations exceeding a sustainable throughput of 20 Mbps. Release

> Finnish operator TeliaSonera has announced that it has completed the upgrade of its 3G network to HSPA technology. Article

And Finally... User Centric found that people who use QWERTY keyboards took twice as long to type the same message on the iPhone. Article

ALSO NOTED: Handheld Europe shows off new PDA; Free WiFi in Pomona?; and much more...

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:00:50 -0400

> Handheld Europe is showing its new TDS Recon-X series, an 802.11g-capable rugged PDA. Report

> Pomona, CA, is mulling the idea of a free downtown WiFi, and a few companies involved hold a WiFi demonstration to gauge the reaction. Report

> Microsoft dismisses as "speculation and rumor" news that the company was planning to launch a WiFi media player to rival the iPod. Report

> TeliaSonera selects Motorola for the first commercial unlicensed UMA service in Denmark. Report

And finally... The argument is made that offering free WiFi at, say, a coffee-shop, would benefit the coffee-shop's owners because it would bring customers to the shop. This is true, but Boston coffee-shop owners now find that these customers also bring their sandwiches with them: Not only do they not buy food or drinks at the shop, they also occupy the tables which could be used by customers who would. As is often the case, Glenn Fleishman noted this possibility a year ago in a short article on a Seattle establishment shutting off its WiFi on weekends. Report

TeliaSonera expands Nordic region presence

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:01:36 -0500

A year ago, a bridge over the Baltic Sea connecting Sweden and Denmark was opened. A good thing, too, as business relations between the two countries become even more intimate. The latest development is that Swedish operator TeliaSonera has acquired Danish WLAN company YesIHotspot, in the process cementing its leadership position in Scandinavia. The Swedish company now owns 180 hotspots and a nationwide EDGE network in Denmark, placing it in a good position to become a big wireless broadband player in the country.

With the acquisition of YesIHotspot, TeliaSonera now has 1,100 hot spots in the Nordic region (Scandinavia and the low countries) -- and 25,000 hot spots worldwide if we take into account its collaborative roaming arrangements with other providers. TeliaSonera has long championed a communication transition from fixed to IP-based telephony, and its latest move will strengthen its ability to push this vision forward.

Read more about TeliaSonera's move:
- in this company press release