Telia investing USD1.25bn in Swedish fibre over three years

TeliaSonera Sweden (Telia) has budgeted three-year investment of SEK9 billion (USD1.25 billion) to expand fibre broadband infrastructure between 2015 and 2018, with the aim of providing fibre connectivity to 1.9 million households (roughly 42% of all homes in Sweden) plus many businesses by 2018, whilst also providing high speed fibre backhaul for the nationwide expansion of 4G mobile services. In a release on its website, Telia said that the fibre expansion will encompass urban and rural areas, apartment blocks and detached houses, both directly and via municipal associations and cooperatives. Telia’s wholesale division Skanova is building out an open fibre network, over which customers can choose from several service providers’ offerings for broadband internet, IPTV and telephony. The company previously announced that it would invest approximately SEK5 billion annual CAPEX in its Swedish fixed and mobile networks in 2015 (similar to the rough annual investment budget of the preceding two years).