Finland Times

 

TeliaSonera flags in its Helsinki office. File Photo – Lehtikuva.

DNA and TeliaSonera's joint construction of a comprehensive 4G network for northern and eastern Finland begins this week. The work will start in Kuusamo, and the project is expected to be ready by the end of 2016 at the latest.

 

Both operators' base stations will be equipped with 4G technology, which they will both have access to.  The project is expected to eliminate "dead zones" and also significantly speed up connections in sparsely populated areas.

 

The operators also promise that the network will improve the speeds of slower 2G and 3G devices.

 

"Our joint 4G network is the most cost-effective way to prove fast connections to the entire country. The new network transfers speeds are unseen anywhere else in the world," says the project's managing director Antti Jokinen of Collaborative Network. The two companies, however, will still compete for the business of end-users.

 

Jokinen does not want to say exactly how much the investment costs, but in his views, 50 million euros would not be a bad estimate.