OXFORD, United Kingdom-Having operated as a fixed-line operator in Spain since early 2001, Sweden-based Tele2 has now obtained the necessary license agreements to become the country’s first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The 20-year license enables Tele2 to interconnect traffic and roam across the entire country after reaching agreements with other network owners.
The company said that, once contracts are signed, it will launch the service almost immediately, although it plans to investigate developing its own billing and switching systems to better support its countrywide service.
The company, which already has MVNO operations in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany and will soon be launching in Austria, also announced a deal with Telenor Mobile that will provide both companies MVNO access to each other’s GSM and future third-generation (3G) networks in Norway and Sweden (see related “Europe” news). Telenor Mobile is already operating an MVNO cell-phone service-using Vodafone’s Europolitan network-in Sweden, under the djuice brand. The company said the existing 70,000 djuice subscribers would continue to be supported by this existing arrangement.
