Swedes have mobile explosion with 4G

In December 2008 Sony Ericsson signed an agreement with Vodafone to build their 4G network swedenwith LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology.

- "After having been in the forefront in the IT world, we felt that Sweden fell behind in the telecommunications front, so we thought of what might get Sweden back on the map," said Mikael Bäckström, when he spoke at the Mobile Future conference.

- "Now we see that Sweden may become the world's first country with LTE network. We expect to launch 4G in 2010. Perhaps in the early years, but not before we feel ready, "said Erik Hallberg, who is Head of Mobility Services at TeliaSonera in Sweden.

A precondition for the launch, is the need to find products that can be connected to the network. Erik Hallberg shows a series of LTE modems from Samsung. The modem is slightly larger than an ordinary 3G modem, but only a bit.

"The new generation of mobile networks, 4G, which is able to deliver speeds up to 40 Mbit / s, opening up new customers. It's not just people who wish to communicate faster. We will also see an explosion of things that are connected wirelessly - for example. cars, household equipment, navigation equipment, games and cameras, "noted Mikael Bäckström.

"Today we have five million SIM card users in Sweden. In ten years, we anticipate that the figure has risen to between 200 and 250 million connections," explained Erik Hallberg.

New services
Neither Erik Hallberg Mikael Bäckström, or believe in any "killer app" that will drive the process. There will be new players with entirely new services that nobody can predict today. But Erik Hallberg, however, one last cautious comment:

"For everything to work, we need to invest in new transport. If we fail to see return on investment, we will not invest more in infrastructure. This is not a threat but a reality. It may also be possible to pay us to disseminate the new technology. "

For the sake we had better mention that LTE technology in principle can not officially go under the concept of 4G. This is an evolution of current 3G networks, and the correct name for one, will be 3.9G.

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O2 and Vodafone to share network

we are hearing quite a mant gossips on A network-sharing deal between two of UK’s foremost mobile phone operators – O2 and Vodafone – appears to be on the cards! The companies are reported to be engaged in advanced-stage talks about a prospective sharing of their wireless network infrastructure in Britain.

Vodafone’s UK business said that the company wants to ensure that “Vodafone UK is best placed to take advantage of network- sharing schemes now and in the future.”

Insiders say that the deal under consideration would not only provide both the companies with substantial savings in capital and operating costs, it will also help resolve a row over radio spectrum, thereby facilitating government’s plans of providing broadband internet access to all households by 2012.

In fact, network-sharing appears to a practical decision since installation and maintenance of network equipment requires a lot of cash infusion. Keeping that aspect in mind, Telefónica’s O2 subsidiary and Vodafone are deliberating on measures for sharing the sites where mobile towers and base stations are positioned.

If the deal comes through, it would implicitly bring about a much-improved overall coverage, both in terms of quality and extent.

A more oblique affect of a deal between O2 and Vodafone – which already has a similar pact with France Telecom’s Orange – would be a prospective network-sharing agreement between Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa-owned 3!

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Vodafone Netherlands hires Ericsson to manage network

Vodafone Netherlands has hired Ericsson to manage services cooperation in the country. As of June 1, Ericsson takes over all engineering, implementation and operational activities in Vodafone Netherlands' multivendor core and transport network.
As a result, 97 Vodafone Netherlands employees will be transferred to Ericsson.
The employees will be located at the office in Stein, in the South Limburg region, from where Ericsson already performs other activities that were taken over from Vodafone Netherlands last year.
John Samarron, CTO of Vodafone Netherlands, says: "Vodafone Netherlands is increasingly evolving from a technically oriented company to customer-services oriented company. By transferring responsibility and existing resources for the core and transport part of the network, we are convinced that we will be able to capture synergies with Ericsson, and that the quality of our core and transport network will be further enhanced. Moreover, the shift to a partnering model allows us to focus on additional elements of the value chain that will enable growth and new product introduction."

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Vodafone Egypt Plans 3G Video Service

Vodafone Egypt will launch a range of rich media services for its 3G customers in Spring, including a mobile TV service. Kamera will provide some TV channels tailored to the local Arabic market, including an Arabic-speaking news channel ShortCut, the sport channel SportCall and the entertainment channel WOW! TV, plus highlights from the upcoming Qualifications to the EURO2008 football championship. Kamera will also distribute third-party channels, including encoding video live and near live and editing the third party content. (release)

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