Sweden’s TeliaSonera said today its LTE network in Stockholm will soon be upgraded to reach “practical” speeds of 80 Mb/s and up to the highest “theoretical” speed possible of 100 Mb/s. With 3G networks topping out in the single digits, and even the proposed speeds of many 4G networks still hovering in the teens, Telia’s play at delivering true broadband wireless is worth noting.
In its press release on the upgrade, TeliaSonera says (forgive the translation):
Today the 4G network in the central parts of Stockholm and in parts of the Stockholm International, Kista and Hammarby Sjöstad. Telia will build out 4G in 25 locations in Sweden. During the third quarter of this year, the 4G network that launched in Lund, Västerås, Malmö, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Linköping. The expansion will also continue, with more cities during the year.
The Connected Planet Take, Kevin Fitchard:
TeliaSonera apparently has waved a magic wand and doubled its LTE capacity in central Stockholm—no mean feat. It didn’t really offer any details on how it managed to accomplish this (and the press release was originally only in Swedish), but there are really only a few possible explanations. TeliaSonera could be upgrading its network in Stockholm from a single-input-single-output (SISO) smart antenna configuration to a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configuration, which could theoretically double capacity in obstacle-strewn areas such as a crowded European capital.
TeliaSonera likely started with 2×2 MIMO though, and even if it didn’t, just adding another set of antennas to the network likely wouldn’t result in an outright doubling of peak capacity—no matter how optimal the conditions. The second explanation might be a simple boosting of backhaul capacity, eliminating any bottlenecks between the base station and the core, but I doubt backhaul was a problem. TeliaSonera was supporting downlink peak speeds near 45 Mb/s at launch, meaning it had to already have been using fiber or microwave to backhaul its base stations.
The third—and I believe most logical—explanation is TeliaSonera is doubling its LTE carrier bandwidth in Stockholm to account for the greater capacity demand. Going from a 5 MHz to a 10 MHz downlink carrier is the most elegant explanation for a simple doubling of capacity.
That’s our take on this 4G milestone, let us know what you think in the comments below:
Well, the simple answer is that TeliaSonera goes from 10 to 20 MHz carriers!