Telenor renewing the Norwegian Wireless Infrastructure
Telenor, the world’s 7th largest provider of mobile services, will during the next few years replace its entire wireless infrastructure in Norway and upgrade the network for fourth-generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) services. This is the largest upgrade project for the Norwegian mobile network that has ever been carried out.
Upgrades to a 4G network entail a higher data speed and improvements to multimedia messaging. However, as 4G phones are not yet commercially available, the new upgrade will merge the new 4G network with the older generation networks.
Huawei taking over from Ericsson and NSN in Norway
Huawei is ranked number three after Telenor's former suppliers Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) in terms of worldwide market share in mobile network equipment. The company serves 36 of the world’s top 50 operators and is present in over 100 countries. The contract with Telenor is valued NOK 1 billion and is reported to be the largest LTE deal in Europe to date.
A second partner for the project is the American Starent Networks, who will supply the mobile core network.
“All the providers were evenly matched, but in the end Huawei and Starent Networks emerged as the winners. It was a combination of technical quality, reliability and commercial terms that was the deciding factor,” says Telenor Norway CEO Ragnar Kårhus.
All the equipment has now been shipped to Norway and installation has begun. The upgrade will be completed in 2011.