Tele2 Embarks on Massive 4G Modernization Project
Wireless operator Tele2 will start replacing its radio and core network in the Baltics this week, a job expected to take two years and which it says will give customers in the three countries superior 4G mobile broadband.
To do so, it signed the largest contract of its existence for an undisclosed amount with Nokia Siemens Networks, which will be the sole supplier.
Tele2 Estonia chairman of the board Mindaugas Ubartas said the company felt it was strategically better to replace the entire network and start afresh in connection with the development of 4G.
The new stations will be smaller, a third more energy efficient and easier to maintain,” said Ubartas and added that the equipment in each country will be able to substitute for the other ones in case of problems.
The base stations will start to be upgraded right away with the ones in Tallinn and Harju County to be replaced before April is out. The mobile internet network will also be expanded to stations that only supported 2G to this point. The new equipment will support old technologies as well.
For Tele2, it is the second major investment in Estonia of the year. In February Tele2 bought Eesti Energia's fiber optic network for 25 million euros.
Kristopher Rikken