IT Insight » Finland

Nokia to acquire cellity

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:54:36 +0000

Nokia and cellity have announced an agreement for Nokia to acquire certain assets of cellity. cellity is a privately owned mobile software company which employs 14 people in Hamburg, Germany.

Nokia will acquire the cellity team to strengthen its competencies in the area of social networking. cellity’s current service will not transfer to Nokia and the service will be discontinued. cellity currently offers a solution to collect and securely store users’ contacts in one place. The service is an easy way to connect people on the mobile and the web.

“cellity has a very talented and innovative team, which we are very happy to have on board at Nokia. With this acquisition, we can accelerate our service development in some of our core areas,” said Christof Hellmis, Vice President, Services, Nokia.

“We are excited that Nokia has chosen our team and technology. With our experience from building social networking solutions, we can help Nokia further develop their services offering,” said Nils Weitemeyer, CEO of cellity.

The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009. After closing, cellity staff will become part of Nokia’s Services unit.

Sonera introduces 3G services in the 900 MHz frequency

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:45:44 +0000

Sonera continues its accelerated turbo 3G build-out program by introducing mobile broadband services in the 900 MHz frequency. Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei are the network vendors for the 3G expansion program in the following years.
“Our customers expect the traditional Sonera network quality where ever they are. By investing in the latest technology we can offer mobile broadband to a growing number of customers in a cost-efficient way”, says Esa Rautalinko, CEO of TeliaSonera Finland.

A significant part of the turbo 3G extension will be based on the 900 MHz frequency. In a lower-frequency network, an individual base station serves a larger coverage area, which makes it possible to extend geographical network coverage in an economic way.

”Besides the right timing, the choice of partners is a critical decision. The challenges are great, because we are not only rolling out 3G, but also supporting the fixed-mobile migration in the most rural areas and building a foundation for the evolution to 4G”, Rautalinko continues.

In 2009, Sonera will introduce its turbo 3G network in more than 100 new towns and localities, adding up to a total of 350 localities. More than 1,000 new base stations will be introduced. The company will continue its build-out programme in 2010 and 2011 depending on the market situation and service demand.

GSMA applauds Baltic Governments’ for unified spectrum allocation

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:45:01 +0000

The GSMA, the global trade association for the mobile communications industry, welcomes an initiative driven by the Finnish Ministry of Communications to develop a unified approach to the allocation of ‘Digital Dividend’ spectrum – the spectrum that will be freed up by the switchover from analogue to digital TV – in the Baltic Sea region. The Ministry today hosted a Baltic Sea Summit on the digital dividend in Helsinki attended by government delegations from all the Baltic Sea states, namely Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

“The leadership of Minister Lindén has been significant. There are many millions of citizens in the Baltic countries who will only have access to high speed broadband if mobile can use the digital dividend spectrum. By ensuring that Baltic countries harmonise their plans with the wider European region, their citizens will benefit from the scale economies of a 500 million population market,” said Tom Phillips, Chief Government & Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss how best to maximise the economic and social benefits promised by the digital dividend in the Baltic Sea region. Allocating some of the digital dividend to mobile broadband will increase Internet penetration and have a significant positive economic impact by driving innovation, job creation, productivity and competitiveness. However, harmonisation of the spectrum on a regional basis is needed to drive down handset and network equipment costs and make mobile broadband affordable to consumers.

“Consumers will increasingly demand wider availability of mobile broadband, which will enable innovative solutions which deliver on the promise of the converging worlds of Internet and mobility. The mobile industry urgently needs clarity on the availability of spectrum bands and regulatory issues, to accelerate the efficient and cost effective implementation of these mobile broadband solutions. The 790-862 MHz band is important, as it has significant potential to provide excellent coverage over large geographical areas,” said Timo Ali-Vehmas, Vice President of Compatibility and Industry Collaboration at Nokia. “We welcome the Finnish Ministry’s leadership of regional discussions to achieve this.”

“The digital dividend has the potential to provide universal access for all consumers and to allow operators to accelerate mobile broadband throughout the Baltic Sea region,” said Esa Rautalinko, Country Manager and President, TeliaSonera Finland.

“In Finland, digital switchover is now complete. We strongly hope this Summit will provide the momentum to develop a regional solution which will enable licensing arrangements to proceed. Given that this kind of opportunity won’t come around again in the foreseeable future, it is important that these decisions are well-informed and strategic,” said Riitta Tiuraniemi, CEO, DNA.

Background

The characteristics of the low-frequency digital dividend spectrum in the 790-862MHz band mean that it is ideally suited to the roll out of mobile broadband in rural areas. This is of particular importance in the Baltic region where population density is typically lower than in other parts of Europe. However, in many of the Baltic Sea states, legacy aeronautical systems as well as analogue broadcast systems occupy parts of the 790-862MHz band. There are also multiple border issues which threaten to complicate coordination. A key objective of the Baltic Sea Summit was to consider ways to overcome interference with aeronautical systems and mediate between military and broadcast use of digital dividend, at a regional level.

Harmonisation of digital dividend spectrum at EU level is an important element in the greater spectrum debate in Europe, which currently faces an urgent need for more spectrum to accommodate significant increases in mobile broadband usage. Extending coverage to rural areas and ensuring that the ‘digital divide’ between town and country is lowered is also a vital element of EU policy.

The European Parliament’s decision to liberalise the 900MHz spectrum band through amendments to the GSM Directive forms a part of this exercise, and is also fully supported by the GSMA. Work on the digital dividend must continue alongside this to ensure universal connectivity.