Ericsson to build and manage fibre city network for Swedish municipality

Ericsson has signed a contract to further develop and manage an operator-neutral city network in Hudiksvall, Sweden. It is the first time Ericsson has taken on both expansion and operation of a city network. Hudiksvall’s existing fibre-optic network allows residents to select services from an internet service provider of their choice. Residents are able to select individualised, high speed broadband services, such as high-definition IPTV and video-on-demand. ‘The cooperation with Ericsson enables us to continue expanding the fibre-optic network and this project represents a major investment by Hudiksvall Municipality. The longstanding cooperation will also strengthen the development of qualified higher educational programs and R&D within the field of fibre optics and take our efforts to the next level,’ said Sven-Ake Thoresen, Mayor of Hudiksvall. Ericsson will manage the network for Zitius, the open-access network operator, until 2016. Under the agreement, Ericsson will supply and deploy EDA 1200 fibre-access switches and metro aggregation, as well as SmartEdge Multi-Service Edge Routers and core network products. Starting this month, Ericsson will roll out fibre connections to individual homes in the city.