LIVE FROM HUAWEI’S GLOBAL MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2010: Tommy Ljunggren (pictured), VP of system development for LTE pioneer TeliaSonera, this morning urged operators not to wait in launching next-generation mobile services.

The Nordic operator launched the world’s first commercial LTE network in December 2009 and by the end of this year expects to be live in some 30 cities in Sweden and Norway. Ljunggren said that the Opex and Capex costs of launch are under control and that with software costs falling and a high degree of network infrastructure re-use – as much as 70 percent he claimed – there is now very little reason to delay.

“The electronics are not expensive anymore,” he said, arguing that any operator considering enhancing an existing 3G network could move to ‘4G’ at the same time at almost no extra cost – “especially in a Single RAN environment.” Ljunggren’s comments are timely, as there is debate in the industry as to whether new HSPA technologies – which can push data download speeds to theoretical peaks of 42 Mb/s – could impact operator moves to LTE.

Ljunggren cautioned, however, that successful launches require a value-based pricing model to cope with new and expanding patterns of usage.

TeliaSonera’s initial LTE network is a stand-alone data network that has proved popular with bandwidth heavy users, especially within the media. Ljunggren highlighted how one Swedish broadcaster covered the recent royal wedding with multiple mobile cameras using laptops and LTE dongles to stream live pictures from roaming reporters to static, outside broadcast vehicles and the TV centre.

TeliaSonera’s LTE network was launched within one year of the operator determining its desire to be first to market, thanks Ljunggren said to the co-operation between itself and its device and network manufacturer partners, including Huawei.

Ljunggren also had a warning for operators facing ‘4G’ spectrum licence auctions, as he urged Governments and regulators not to be greedy.  “There are some auctions you cannot afford to lose,” he said, “and operators who don’t get a 4G licence will either have to co-operate with those that do or leave the market.” 

 

Kevin Taylor