World's First 900MHz WCDMA Network from Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson

Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson and Elisa will launch the world's first commercial WCDMA network in the 900 MHz frequency band. This will make it possible to extend the 3G coverage in a cost-efficient manner.

Elisa's new network is based on the WCDMA Frequency Refarming Solution from Nokia Siemens Networks. The new part of the network is seamlessly integrated in Elisa's existing WCDMA/HSPA network in the 2.1GHz band. With this, Elisa just made a huge upgrade on its network, which should earn it a leading position in providing this type of services.

The Finnish company seems to have chosen the best from all the best in order to make this new network possible. As a result, there should come a large coverage and great HSPA performances, along with high bit rates, low latency and full mobility. Ericsson's solution is built on its existing experience with radio base stations, which now provides mobile broadband services with up to 14.4Mbps download speeds in more than 70 commercial networks.

"Improved customer experience is our objective when we are now widening the coverage of our 3G services. Thanks to the Nokia Siemens Networks frequency refarming solution, we are now running WCDMA and GSM efficiently in our 900 MHz frequency allocation, enabling us to extend our 3G services cost-effectively from cities to the less populated areas of Finland", commented Veli-Matti Mattila, President and CEO, Elisa Corporation.

"As the technology leader in mobile broadband, Ericsson is proud to support Elisa on its journey to build nationwide WCDMA/HSPA coverage. Access to innovative mobile broadband services, anywhere and anytime, opens new and exciting opportunities for consumers and business users", said Janne Laitala, President, from Ericsson Finland.

Ericsson's WCDMA/HSPA technology is now commercially deployed in the 850, 900, 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100MHz frequency bands and the deployment in the 2.6GHz frequency band will start shortly.