In a surprise move and in what could be a breakthrough for mobile services, in particular mobile TV and video, TeliaSonera has a Long Term Evolution (LTE)based mobile network in Norway and Sweden.

Throughout 2009 ,a number of operators made pledges to launch in 2010 LTE networks which could offer theoretical data rates in the same range as those currently available via cable or DSL and which are ideal to support applications such as mobile TV and video in broadcast, and potentially HD, quality.

TeliaSonera's announcement so early has surprised many in the industry and many expected either companies such as Verizon or NTT DoCoMo to deploy the world's first commercial LTE network. Analyst say that if TeliaSonera's LTE network delivers on what it promises, with users experiencing very high throughputs 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.

It is reported that the company has spent around $70 million for the rollout whose base stations are being provided by Ericsson in Stockholm and Huawei in Oslo. In all the network will cover around 450,000 people initially and TeliaSonera says that it will add coverage for three large cities in Norway and 25 cities in Sweden in 2010. Denmark is predicted as another possibility for launch in 2010 as well.

The service speed quoted by TeliaSonera is 20-80 Mbps, but the average speed per user on a loaded network has not yet been released. It is though that pricing will start with an introductory price of about $0.56 per month with no monthly usage cap until July 2010 when higher tariffs will be implemented.

The move has gained a huge amount of interest thought the analyst community. "TeliaSonera's launch is a significant milestone for LTE networks since it's the first," said Philip Solis, practice director at ABI Research . "Today, commercially launched LTE networks now cover fewer than half a million people. This is very tiny today, but we expect that to increase significantly by the end of next year with other early LTE rollouts."

Luke Thomas adds, "Truly, TeliaSonera has caught many of its competitors off-guarded as many in the industry were expecting the world's first commercial LTE network to happen in Q2/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," added Frost & Sullivan Programme Manager for ICT Europe, Luke Thomas