Danish telecoms operator TDC has announced plans to roll out a Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile network as early as June this year to offer Danes mobile broadband speeds three to four times higher than what is currently possible. The company plans to initially deploy the so-called ‘4G’ technology in Copenhagen and Aarhus, with network rollout in the most densely populated areas of the rest of the country to follow. ‘We are confident that we will be issued one of the licences that are currently put up for auction. If we get the licence, we could technically open the LTE network already in June,’ noted Carsten Dilling, president of TDC’s Operations & Wholesale division. During the first phase, TDC will test the new network to gather experience before allowing customers access. The tests will be carried out once new modems and telephones are available that can use the LTE infrastructure together with the company’s existing mobile network. ‘LTE is one of the cornerstones of TDC’s network strategy which is aimed at giving our customers the best broadband experience in Denmark. In this context, LTE supports the increasing need for higher network capacity and speed in the coming years, and it is therefore important that we start using the technology and gather experience as quickly as possible,’ Dilling added.
The Danish incumbent also hopes to increase the speed of its 3G network in six of the country’s largest cities at the end of next month, from the current theoretical speed of 7.2Mbps to 21Mbps. TDC then aims to roll out the increased speed to all large urban communities before the end of 2010.