Alongside the announcement that it is working with Nokia in Finland and other Baltic and Scandinavian markets (see today’s CommsUpdate story ‘Telia Company selects Nokia for Finnish 5G deployment and 5G SA core provision in six countries’), Telia Company has also contracted Ericsson to deploy 5G equipment in Sweden and Estonia. The five-year, multi-billion-krona deal will see Ericsson modernise Telia’s existing 4G networks in the two countries to establish ultra-high capacity 5G systems incorporating around 10,000 cellular sites and covering 500,000 square km.
Allison Kirkby, President and CEO of Telia Company, said: ‘With today’s agreement, we have the foundation in place to develop the most trusted and reliable 5G networks in the Nordics and the Baltics. It is also the start of a multi-year investment in our networks, ramping up fully in 2021.’
Separately, Telia Sweden, which launched its first commercial 5G services in Stockholm in May, has switched on new 5G sites in eight cities, including Karlstad and Uppsala. A further eleven cities, including Gothenburg, Halmstad, Lulea and Malmo, will be connected within the next few weeks.