Telenor, Norway’s largest mobile operator with 2.98 million subscribers and a 55 percent market share, announced today that it will replace its entire mobile infrastructure in its home market of Norway, with Huawei and Starent gear for its mobile network.
“This is the biggest upgrade of the mobile network in Norway we have ever carried out”, said Ragnar Kårhus, CEO of Telenor Norway. “Our main aim is to provide customers with better, more innovative services across the country”. The size of the contract was not disclosed.
China’s Huawei will provide the radio access network kit, while Starent will supply the mobile core network such as their ST40 which is compatible with various mobile networks, including 3GPP, CDMA, LTE, UMTS/HSPA, femtocell, WiFi, and WiMAX networks.
The existing network was largely built by Swedish-based Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks, based in Finland. The six-year agreement includes the delivery of multi-base stations for 2G, 3G/UMTS and 4G/LTE. Telenor is the seventh largest carrier in the world, with 172 million subscribers.
It’s a major deal for both Huawei and Starent, and a bit of a shocker for Nordic-based Ericsson and Nokia. Starent recently landed major contracts from Verizon Wireless to a Taiwan consortium deploying a nationwide WiMax network. Cisco recently bought Starent for $2.9B. Nokia Siemens, meanwhile, is Hot for Nortel’s MEN, reports Unstrung.
Telenor successfully launched their THOR 6 satellite on October, 29 and will commence commercial services next year at 1 degree west.
Telenor Satellite Broadcasting provides extensive television broadcasting services for distribution and contribution applications to broadcasters throughout Europe.
