TDC, the Danish mobile operator, has awarded its network upgrade to LTE technology to Ericsson. The company has also selected the equipment vendor to provide it with a fully managed services contract, marking it the first time Ericsson has won an LTE services contract for both RAN (radio access network) and core elements.
The contract, which calls for deployment to start immediately, includes RAN upgrades using Ericsson's latest RBS 6000 base station series, together with a "complete" Evolved Packet Core solution as well as the "full scope" of managed services.
While TDC and Ericsson declined to announce the duration or financial details of the contract, Lars Tofft, head of Ericsson Denmark and Norway, said that it was a historic day for the company. "By extending our strategic partnership with TDC we have received the chance to prove our leading technology and managed services capabilities to support the successful launch and operation of their new LTE network."
Earlier this year, three of Denmark's mobile operators--TDC, Telenor and Telia--paid around €45 million for 20MHz of paired spectrum, plus 10MHz of unpaired band in the case of Telia and Telenor. Hutchison 3, which opted for 10MHz of paired band and 25MHz of unpaired, paid just below €1million.
Ericsson, which claims to be leading the race to win LTE network contracts, has signed commercial LTE deals with seven major operators around the world. While NSN and other equipment vendors might dispute Ericsson's claim to LTE supremacy, the company states it is the major supplier to the two live commercial LTE networks, TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway, and MetroPCS in the US.
For more:
- see this Cellular News article
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