Sonera, Finland’s largest mobile operator, said in a statement this morning it is to accelerate rollout of its HSPA-based ‘Turbo 3G’ network by introducing mobile broadband services in the 900MHz band. The operator – owned by Sweden’s TeliaSonera – said a “significant part” of the network extension will be based on 900MHz, a lower-frequency band that allows it to extend its geographical network coverage more economically. Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei were named as network vendors. “We are not only rolling out 3G, but also supporting the fixed-mobile migration in the most rural areas and building a foundation for the evolution to 4G,” said Esa Rautalinko, CEO of TeliaSonera Finland. Sonera said it will roll-out the network in more than 100 new towns and localities in 2009, adding up to a total of 350 localities. More than 1,000 new base stations will be introduced. The company added that it will continue its build-out programme in 2010 and 2011 depending on the market situation and service demand.

Sonera is the third Finnish operator to use 900MHz for 3G. Last November, Finland’s third-largest operator, DNA said it aims to cover “all major municipal population centres and residential and recreational areas” in Finland during 2009 using 900MHz. Meanwhile, second-placed Elisa became the world’s first operator to launch a commercial 3G (WCDMA) 900MHz network in November 2007. It claimed last year to be making capex and opex savings of between 50 and 70 percent by deploying 3G services in the 900MHz band rather than 2100MHz, the traditional 3G frequency band. 900MHz 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 2100MHz.