Telenor Sweden has switched on tri-band carrier aggregation (3C) LTE services in nearly 400 locations in city centres across the country, further boosting mobile data speeds and network stability following the earlier rollout of dual-carrier LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) aggregation in over 200 municipalities by Telenor and its infrastructure sharing partner Tele2 this summer. A blog entry yesterday from Patrik Nilsson, network expert at Telenor Sweden, notes that the 3C LTE network coverage zones support theoretical maximum data speeds of 450Mbps (although actual end-user speeds will be lower), whilst handset users will need a Category 9 device to access tri-band LTE services; there are currently only a few Cat 9 models available on the market, whilst the operator’s dual-band LTE is already relatively widely supported by Cat 6 smartphones.
Telenor and Tele2 Sweden operate – via their Net4Mobility joint venture – a 4G LTE network covering 99.5% of the population, and are aiming for a target of 90% territory coverage. The 4G radio access network is shared by the two rivals, who operate their own independent core networks.