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The Baltic states continue to be the frontrunners in advanced wireless services. TeliaSonera claimed the laurels for the world's first commercial LTE launch, now 3 Scandinavia claims it will have "the world's fastest 3G network", with a migration to multicarrier HSPA+ (HSPA Evolution) over the coming 18 months.

The operator is conventional in one sense, opting for local supplier Ericsson for its upgrade, which eventually promises peak download rates of 84Mbps, up from a peak of 21Mbps on the carrier's current HSPA systems. Of course peak rates are far from typical performance, but the roll-out does show 3 leaping ahead of its larger rivals in one of the most competitive mobile markets.

The firm has leapfrogged Australia's Telstra as the most advanced deployer of new HSPA+ standards, at least in terms of its publicity. In fact, it will only move to 42Mbps during this year, and then leap to 84Mbps in late 2010 or, more likely, 2011, when devices may be available. Telstra is currently rolling out 42Mbps systems and plans to go to 84Mbps in the coming 12-18 months too.

Ericsson will provide the two-stage upgrade to HSPA Evolution and also a 900MHz HSPA RAN and IP-based optical and microwave backhaul. Roll-out will start during this quarter and the contract covers a national system in Denmark and four major Swedish cities. No financial details were disclosed.

The HSPA+ roadmap is moving rapidly as many carriers look to eke more performance out of their existing infrastructure and spectrum rather than moving too hastily to LTE, which requires new frequencies and a whole new build-out. In the Nordic region, where refarming and 4G auctions have been offered far in advance of most of the world, TeliaSonera is going live with LTE in cities in Sweden and Norway this year; while Net4Mobility, a joint venture between Telenor and Tele2, is working on LTE in Sweden too.

By contrast, 3 is sticking with HSPA for now, and taking advantage of the combination of multicarrier implementation and MIMO smart antennas, which is boosting the network's peak speeds so rapidly. HSPA+ can reach 28Mbps using MIMO only but the addition of multicarrier has got it to 42Mbps already. Huawei has demonstrated 56Mbps systems and Ericsson has now shown off 84Mbps, and says the technology can be stretched further over time, to beyond 100Mbps.

This begs the question of why carriers need LTE at all - the answer, of course, lies in the need for greater capacity, and the economics of an all-IP network. And the operators are not only concerned with capacity but 3G coverage, which remains inadequate in many parts of Europe a decade after licenses were awarded and national penetration targets set by regulators. 3 Scandinavia is planning to expand its 3G coverage by using refarmed 900MHz GSM spectrum, also in partnership with Ericsson.

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