The world’s first and largest commercial 4G service has been launched by TeliaSonera and Ericsson (ERIC) in Stockholm, Sweden.
 
Although 3G (third generation) technologies deliver significantly higher bit rates than 2G technologies, there is still a great opportunity for wireless service providers to capitalize on the ever-increasing demand for wireless broadband and take advantage of the technology innovation that improves the economics of deploying mobile broadband networks. Consequently, there is an expanding revenue opportunity from a growing pool of consumers and business professionals who are demanding the same experience and applications that they enjoy on a fixed wire line connection over wireless — anywhere, any content, stationary or mobile. The solution is LTE.
 
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the project name of a new high performance air interface for cellular mobile communication systems. It is the last step toward the 4th generation (4G) of radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. Where the current generation of mobile telecommunication networks are collectively known as 3G. LTE is marketed as 4G. Major mobile carriers in the United States and several worldwide carriers had announced plans to convert their networks to LTE beginning in 2009. LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) which will be introduced in 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 8.
 
TeliaSonera’s mobile broadband commercial network in Stockholm is now the fastest and largest in the world. It is the first operator in the world to offer customers 4G services.
 
Stockholm has been covered with the Ericsson LTE network, making it the largest LTE deployment to date. TeliaSonera’s customers are the first to have access to the LTE service by commercially available Samsung LTE dongles. A dongle is a piece of hardware that attaches to a computer in order to make a piece of secured software run. A dongle is used as a high-end form of security to prevent the unauthorized copying of software.
 
Ericsson has completed commercialization of its LTE products and larger production is ready for further deployment. Interoperability has been tested thoroughly with many different devices in different operators’ networks.
 
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, LM Ericsson Telephone Co. is a multinational company engaged in manufacturing and selling wireless infrastructure equipment for the telecom sector. It is a total network solutions provider, serving wireless and wire line operators, enterprises, and consumers. The company is primarily a supplier of global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based equipment, and looks to benefit to the next generation systems as more broadband content is being streamed to mobile devices, prompting network providers to upgrade their networks. Its major competitor is Alcatel-Lucent (ALU).
 
We currently have a Neutral recommendation on ERIC.
Read the full analyst report on “ERIC”
Read the full analyst report on “ALU”
Zacks Investment Research