STOCKHOLM, Sweden-TeliaSonera AB said it will invest in EDGE technology to improve the speed of its Finnish mobile network. The company said it EDGE technology will be available this fall.
TeliaSonera, which owns mobile subsidiaries in several Nordic and Baltic countries, said it is investigating how the technology could be applied in its other markets.
The operator said customers can begin to use EDGE services as soon as EDGE handsets are available on the market.
“EDGE accelerates the development of mobile data services and complements other mobile technologies, including UMTS,” said Anders Igel, president and chief executive officer of TeliaSonera.
If the launch occurs as planned, it likely will be the first EDGE service in Europe and the third in the world, followed by EDGE launches by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. in the United States and CSL Hong Kong earlier this year.
The move could be aimed at stabilizing its customer base, as TeliaSonera Finland also announced it had 2.441 million customers at then end of the third quarter, down from 2.471 million in the previous quarter. Churn jumped to 21.8 percent, a more than 100-percent increase over the 10.2 percent the carrier reported in the second quarter.
TeliaSonera Finland said the high churn is due to competitive pricing offers in the market following the introduction of mobile number portability July 25.
