Europe : TeliaSonera's Finnish customers can start using the EDGE-technology enabling faster mobile data services. TeliaSonera is also investigating how the technology could be applied in the other Nordic and Baltic home markets.

TeliaSonera believes that EDGE will be an important complement to the other mobile technologies, such as the existing GSM, GPRS and WLAN and the future UMTS. EDGE provides extra capacity and improved transfer speed in areas covered by the network. The existing network can be upgraded with EDGE in the course of already planned upgradings.

TeliaSonera's Finnish customers can start taking advantage of the EDGE-technology in line with the launch of EDGE-mobiles to the market. And at the same time, TeliaSonera is investigating how EDGE could complement other technologies in the Nordic and Baltic home markets, according to demand.

"For us, it is important to be able to continue providing our customers with high quality mobile data services, independent of the technical solutions. EDGE accelerates the development of mobile data services and complements other mobile technologies, including UMTS. On the Swedish market, EDGE can be a complement and act as an alternative in certain areas,"
says Anders Igel, President and CEO of TeliaSonera.

Facts about EDGE
EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is a technology that enables packet switched data over the GSM network two to three times faster than the existing GPRS technology. EDGE uses the 900/1800 MHz band and is part of the valid GSM licences possessed by operators. EDGE can be implemented within the existing infrastructure and gives good coverage to a large population. The EDGE technology can be employed via mobile phones that support EDGE.

Four factors are driving UMTS adoption : regulatory mandates, greater network capacity, reduced capital and operating costs, and availability of well-functioning, numerous, and low-priced handset models."