Five months after declaring that the LTE network would be deployed, on June 4th, 2009, Huawei and TeliaSonera/NetCom, announced the world's first mobile broadband internet connection over a live commercial LTE network in Oslo, Norway. This builds a solid basis for enhancing the brand image of Teliasonera and leading the way of industry development.

The First LTE Commercial Network 

Located in the northwest of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway is a country with amazing scenery and abundant natural resources. Although the population is 4.6 million, the mobile users in the country reach 5.2 million. That is, the mobile penetration is 107 percentages. As one of the most mature high-end and the fast growth mobile markets, as well as a pioneer in applications of new technologies, the Norwegian telecommunications industry attracts great attention from the world.

As the prestigious and No. 1 incumbent telecoms operator in Nordic and Baltic region, Teliasonera deployed more than twenty networks in the world and provided services for 135 million users (Notes: figures in 2008). In the ever-growing competitive market, Teliasonera was confronted with a number of challenges such as how to satisfy the fast-growing requirements on the wireless data broadband services. As a leading technology for the next generation network, the LTE meets the wireless broadband and All-IP requirements. The LTE enables the operator' s provision of more new services with high quality, better subscribers experience and network utilization. Accordingly, the LTE becomes one of the network evolution strategies. In January 2009, Teliasonera finally chose Huawei to deploy the first LTE commercial network for its subsidiary NetCom. Under the agreement, Huawei provides an environment friendly end-to-end LTE solution including LTE base stations, core network and OSS (Operating Support System) covering Oslo. Huawei also provides services including network design, implementation, systems integration and support.

Fast Deployment with High Quality 

Teliasonera and Huawei signed the LTE project contract on January 15th, 2009. To ensure the smooth project implementation, Huawei allocated experts from different fields forming a project team, and at the same time, Teliasonera built a counterpart team for better collaboration. Since it was the first time to deploy LTE & SAE commercial network, project team thoroughly communicated and identified the detailed requirements. Through depth discussions and strict verifications, six main solutions were proposed in two months, involving manufacturing, radio network planning, installation &configuration, SAE integration, LTE transmission, and network operation & maintenance. The excellent solutions, as well as fast and efficient preparations facilitated the smooth rollout of equipment delivery, site acquisition, site installation & adaptation, transmission lease, etc,. Consequently, there neither were any implementation changes, delayed schedule, additional cost, nor quality problems caused by solution.

New technologies, new products, new cooperation on LTE network deployment posed challenges to both parties, especially the first LTE service was expected to be launched with tight time frame. This "mission impossible" had been accomplished one month ahead the schedule. Thanks to the excellent solution, professional project management, efficient inter-communication and close cooperation, the LTE service in the lab was available soon after the SAE equipment was on site. After the transmission was ready, and the interconnection between the LTE network and the existing network was achieved in short time. Finally, on the day of June 4th, the first mobile broadband internet connection is over a live commercial LTE network. Teliasonera recorded this moment and uploaded the video to YouTube for publicity. Project manager from Teliasonera replied to Huawei's email through the LTE network as follows: "I am proud to be the recipient of the world's first e-mail sent over a commercial LTE network, I will print it and frame it."

Impressive High-speed Services 

"Please do not blink your eyes." said Mr. Vegard Kjenner, director of product management of NetCom, prior to the illustration of an MP3 file download in the LTE service press conference on June 18th, 2009. Just a blink, you may miss the high-speed download moment of downloading a 7M MP3 file since it takes only one second. By adopting the key LTE technologies like MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex), the download peak data rate can reach 150Mbps in one LTE cell with multiple terminals. The successful services showed in the press conference, including MP3 file download, video call, FTP download, VOD (Video on Demand), left a deep impression to the audience. In addition, the effective and professional delivery from Huawei was highly appreciated by Teliasonera. Mr. August Baumann, President of NetCom (subsidiary of Teliasonera in Norway), said: "We appreciate the professional implementation from Huawei and we are very pleased to make this world's first LTE session in Norway."