TeliaSonera has unveiled dramatically discounted rates for its ground-breaking LTE service, launched earlier this week.
The carrier started service on LTE networks in Norway and Sweden this week. The capital expenditure for TeliaSonera's LTE buildout in 2010 in Norway and Sweden will come to 500 million Swedish Kronor, the carrier revealed yesterday.
TeliaSonera’s Swedish arm is charging just SEK4 (€0.38) a month in Stockholm until the first of July for access to the service. While in Oslo, TeliaSonera will charge NOK1 (€0.11 cents) until April 1. Users in both cities will also get a free Samsung USB modem that works on LTE networks only, in addition to a free upgrade to the first dual-mode modems available in Q2 2010.
Following the introductory period Swedes will have to pay €57 per month for 30GB of data and Norwegian’s €82 per month for the same amount of data.
“The first customers will help us to develop this pioneering service and will have very attractive terms and conditions to do that. We'll have an open dialog with early customers [about] how they experience our products and services,” said TeliaSonera president and head of mobility services, Kenneth Karlberg, at a press conference yesterday.
He also conceded that there were limitations to the service at this stage in terms of the number of devices available and their ability to support only LTE for now, as well as the limited network coverage in each city.
TeliaSonera plans to roll out the LTE network to 25 cities and popular holiday areas in Sweden as well as three big Norwegian cities throughout 2010.
The operator also expects to launch LTE services in Finland next year, where it has just secured a new license. Karlberg confirmed that the carrier would also be bidding for 4G spectrum in Denmark in Q1 next year.