HELSINKI, Finland-In a statement of intent clearly intended to accelerate the pace of rollout performance in Sweden, TeliaSonera has laid down a marker that the company will launch its “first wave” third-generation (3G) services to customers in Sweden during the first quarter of 2004.
However, Marie Ehrling, TeliaSonera’s business development manager, sounded a note of caution when she warned that the company would first have to overcome “some serious technical problems” if it wanted to meet the 2004 deadline.
“What may happen is that subscribers moving from the ultra-fast 3G mobile network into areas which are served only by 2G (second-generation) networks will find that they are experiencing more dropped calls and loss of vital connections,” said Ehrling.
According to Ehrling, TeliaSonera’s primary focus will be on “problem solving” investments. “We have problems. We know what these are. What we need to do now is resolve all outstanding technical issues,” Ehrling said.
A recent report by TeliaSonera emphasized that the ability of subscribers to move freely between 2G and 3G network areas remained the key to “opening the door of success for 3G services and products in Sweden.” The report also underlined the need to provide high-grade technology, including live video on handsets, given that 3G networks will not initially cover the same areas already served by popular GSM telephony.
“Operators will need the revenue generated from add-on services. This could be the difference between operating networks and services at a profit or loss. And then there is the need to secure a return on our significant capital investments in 3G,” said Ehrling.
TeliaSonera has been holding talks with major handset vendors, namely Nokia and Sony Ericsson, to obtain commitments on phone performance, value-added content and reliability. Nokia and Ericsson each maintain that technical problems relating to subscribers moving from 3G to 2G areas and different networks, and receiving calls between networks, has been solved.
TeliaSonera is building a 3G mobile network in Sweden in alliance with Tele2, one of four 3G license holders. Tele2 has petitioned the Swedish regulator, PTS, to extend the end-2003 deadline for the complete rollout of 3G services covering all land areas of Sweden within two years.
In its petition to the PTS, TeliaSonera stated the company will be in a position to cover areas housing 70 percent of the country’s population by May 2004.
Rival 3G license holders, including Vodafone and its network-sharing partner, a consortium headed by Hong Kong-based Hutchinson Whampoa that includes the Swedish industrial development company Investor, have also asked for a six- to 12-month postponement.
The PTS has so far refrained from issuing delay permits. The agency’s hand may be forced into a more lenient approach if the new Amendment to 3G Licensing Law is passed by the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, in June. The law sets out to enable 3G license holders to apply for 3G services rollout postponements “without penalty,” a move criticized by the PTS, which described the amendment as a “recipe for further rollout delays.”
