Nordic LTE pioneer TeliaSonera yesterday launched services in Finland, becoming the first LTE operator in the country and marking the company’s fourth LTE market launch after Sweden, Norway and Uzbekistan. Initial commercial Finnish LTE services will be offered to customers in Turku and the business centre of Alppila-Vallila-Itä-Pasila in northern Helsinki following a six-month pilot in Turku earlier this year. The networks operate in the 2.6GHz frequency band, but the operator is keen to focus on the 1.8GHz band “as soon as there are modems available for both frequencies” as it claims that the 1.8GHz band enables it to “build wider coverage.” 2.6GHz LTE modems are currently being supplied by Samsung (a USB dongle also supporting 2G and 3G technology), with multimode modems for both LTE frequencies expected next Spring.

TeliaSonera claims that, “in normal circumstances,” its LTE network enables download speeds of 20-80Mb/s, supporting video, interactive TV and professional and business services via laptops. There is no word from the operator on when it expects LTE smartphones to be available. The price for “Sonera Full Net 4G” is EUR46/month, including the Samsung USB dongle. Interestingly, TeliaSonera noted that it has not yet decided on network equipment suppliers for its national Finnish LTE rollout, although the existing radio access (base station) network in Turku is supplied by Nokia Siemens Networks, and by Ericsson in Helsinki. Ericsson supplies TeliaSonera’s LTE core network in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Last month Marek Hintze, chief of TeliaSonera’s mobile operations in Finland, said the company was considering using Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE for future expansion.