Scandinavians get 4G mobile broadband

Scandinavians will be able to sign up for the world’s first commercial super-fast mobile broadband services next year.

Dubbed 4G networks (fourth generation), download speeds for these services can reach 100Mbits/sec; which is about 10 times faster than current top-of-the-range 3G services.

Operator Teliasonera, which officially launched the services in Stockholm and Oslo last month, said the services will open up new possibilities including online gaming and web conferencing.

UK operator O2 also launched a limited one-day trial of the technology near its headquarters in Slough for senior internal management and the O2 UK Technology leadership team. The company said its tests would be run in stages so it could assess the technology, which is called Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

LTE is considered to be the next major standard in mobile broadband technology and it has been designed to overlay existing 3G technology.

The only drawback at the moment is that no mobile handsets have been developed so people in Norway, Sweden and Slough will initially have to access the services using a dongle and a laptop.

But Samsung and LG are reported to be expected to launch handsets capable of using the new networks from mid- to late 2010.

The equipment for the Stockholm 4G city network has been supplied by Ericsson, while Chinese firm Huawei has supplied the dongles for Slough and Oslo.

LTE, however, is on a roll and a further 17 networks are expected to go online this year, in the US, Canada, Japan, Norway, South Korea, South Africa, Sweden, Armenia.