No Second Place: The Choice of 3 Scandinavia

Jörgen Askeroth, chief technology officer at Hi3G Access, explains how the Scandinavian operator has soft-launched the first TDD/FDD dual-mode LTE network.

Hi3G Access was founded in 2001.  The company is based in Stockholm, and operates in Sweden and Denmark under the brand 3 Scandinavia. A joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and Investor AB, Hi3G Access holds the 3G licenses for 3 Scandinavia, which provides 3G mobile voice and mobile broadband.

The company is recognized for its high-speed network and is well-positioned in a market that is growing strongly because of fixed-to-mobile migration in voice and broadband.

With 1.15 million subscribers in Sweden, Hi3G Access has around 10% market share and is the fourth largest operator in the country. Hi3G runs its own UMTS 3G home network in Stockholm, Goteborg and Malmo. It also shares the 3G Infrastructure and Service AB (3GIS) network, a joint venture between 3 Scandinavia and Telenor Sweden that covers the 70 percent of Sweden’s population outside the three main cities.

In December 2011, Hi3G soft launched in Sweden the world’s first TDD/FDD dual-mode LTE network. Jörgen Askeroth took up the position of chief technology officer at Hi3G in October 2001.

Journalist: 3 Sweden recently soft launched the world’s first LTE FDD/TDD dual-mode network. Please introduce your company and network?

JA: 3 is one of the leading operators in Sweden, and we have had the best mobile network for five consecutive years. We provide the highest-speed and best-performing network. This has caused our customer numbers to increase very rapidly and the traffic has grown accordingly.

Over the past year, data traffic has increased 150%, which is a significant amount. To keep pace with such growth, it is essential that we secure available spectrum.

We have sufficient LTE FDD and TDD spectrum on 2.6 GHz: 50 MHz on TDD and 2 × 10 MHz on FDD. We are well equipped for a future growth.

We also have spectrum on 800 MHz. We choose 2 × 10 MHz FDD, which we are using for a large coverage footprint in the future.

Spectrum is key for us, and it indirectly determines what technology is used.

For us, LTE is the natural choice; actually, it is the only option. We have a global perspective; we are following the trends, and moving with the market. 2.6 GHz TD-LTE was a natural choice for us. It provides the most cost-efficient use of spectrum and the best performance.

After an extensive procurement process, we selected ZTE as our vendor. We had very high requirements on the availability of technology and support after the roll-out, and ZTE meets our requirements.

Together with ZTE, we have been rolling out the LTE network in Sweden for the past year. We soft launched the service on December 15, 2011. Another important reason we launched in December was, of course, the availability of devices. We received the first device from ZTE in November, so it was quite natural to commence the soft launch in December.

Journalist: 3 Sweden is a very important international operator and has gained worldwide attention of late. What are 3 Sweden’s operational highlights? What has 3 Sweden achieved in bringing all these services to your subscribers?

JA: I think all markets are competitive, particularly the mobile data markets. Whatever you do, you need to be the best. You really have to focus on what you are doing.

Our goal is to be the best and never settle for second place. From the day our company was established we have been very innovative, and this has brought us great success.

Journalist: TD-LTE has become a hot topic. Why has 3 Sweden chosen TD-LTE? What is the meaning of this choice to the industry?

JA: We chose TD-LTE as our main spectrum resource, and because we have 50 MHz available, we have two carriers that we can combine for high capacity and performance.

But we also have LTE FDD because we believe that not all devices will support TDD in the future.

We have to support all devices, and also from a capacity standpoint, we had to roll out an LTE TDD/FDD dual-mode network.

Journalist: What benefits does 3 Sweden expect to gain by introducing TD-LTE? Can you foresee a trend?

JA: The benefits are very, very clear. The data growth we have experienced over the last five years has meant we need TDD spectrum to accommodate this growth and provide performance. It is a natural choice for us to go for TD-LTE. We also believe that TDD will be very important on the global market because other operators are so interested in the technology. This is also a very important consideration.

Journalist: What were some of the challenges encountered in rolling out the FDD/TDD network?

JA: Building a combined TDD/FDD network is a challenge because of the complexity. We now have all modes of base stations. We have 3G LTE FDD, and LTE TDD base stations.

This is a challenge in terms of site acquisition and radio. We have had to use the same antennas on some sites.

But I think it is a must for us to have a combination of LTE TDD and FDD because of the availability of devices. We have to support all devices.

Journalist: Sweden has the most advanced mobile networks in the world. What is 3 Sweden’s strategy to enhance its position in the future?

JA: 3 Sweden believes that technology is second and customer experience is first. This means that customers do not care about what technology is used.

We have to offer the best service, the best performance; that is our focus. The shortage of spectrum for 3G means it is natural to go to LTE, which offers more spectrum and higher performance.