Frost & Sullivan programme manager for ICT in Europe, Luke Thomas, commented on TeliaSonera launching its new network earlier this week on 14 December: “Many would have expected either Verizon or NTT DoCoMo to deploy the world's first commercial LTE network. Nevertheless, if TeliaSonera's LTE delivers on what it promises, with users experiencing throughputs between 20-80 Mbps, it will lead to an exponential increase of LTE commitments from operators who are still undecided on the upgrade path of their existing 3G networks,” he noted.
“Considering that Ericsson and Huawei are the equipment vendors for TeliaSonera's network, some of the LTE trials that these vendors are currently conducting worldwide could potentially convert into commercial contracts sooner than later,” Thomas continued.
He added: “Truly, TeliaSonera has caught many of its competitors off guard as many in the industry were expecting the world's first commercial LTE network to happen in Q2 or Q3 of 2010. It will now be more interesting on how Mobile WiMAX proponents would react to this announcement and if the European market will be viable for them to actively participate in the long run."