Finnish mobile operator Elisa claims to have made capex and opex savings of between 50 and 70 percent by deploying 3G services in the 900MHz rather than 2100MHz spectrum band. According to Cellular News, Dr Eetu Prieur, head of access networks at Elisa, made the comments in an operator case study published by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). Elisa became the world’s first operator to launch a commercial WCDMA 900MHz network in November 2007. The spectrum is deemed particularly suitable for expanding mobile broadband into less populated areas as it offers improved radio-wave signal strengths at lower frequencies, providing greater reach than the 2100MHz band, the standard 3G spectrum band. Elisa rolled out WCDMA 900MHz in suburban and rural areas to complement its urban coverage, which uses 2100MHz.

According to the report, the case study found that end-user data speeds are the same for 900MHz and 2100MHz systems, but 900MHz can provide the same geographic reach with fewer than half the number of cell sites. “We believe the availability of this first operator-based UMTS900 case study is a significant development, bringing clear business, technical insights and learnings which will greatly assist the extension of mobile broadband services to all,” said Alan Hadden, president of the GSA. Siminn, Iceland’s largest mobile operator, has also recently committed to using 900MHz spectrum for 3G in rural areas. However, current EU legislation restricts use of the spectrum to 2G services only.