1 Year 'Free' uncapped 7.2Mbps HSDPA in Sweden

Telia continues to expand 3G coverage, offers 'free' 3.5G coverage for a year

TeliaSonera Sweden (Telia) has announced that more than six million people, or around two-thirds of the population, will be covered by its HSDPA network by ‘summer 2008’. The cellco is in the process of expanding existing coverage in major cities including Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo, to around 20 ski resorts, including Are, Salen, Idre and Tarnaby, by the end of this year. First launched on a trial basis in Stockholm and Gothenburg in April, the ‘Turbo 3G’ 3.5G service is scheduled for a full commercial launch on 23 November, when Telia has announced that it will provide unlimited HSDPA internet surfing at download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps at no extra cost for subscribers to a twelve-month flat-rate Telia Mobile Broadband contract, which also includes W-CDMA/EDGE/Wi-Fi internet access, costing SEK199 (USD31.50) per month. Turbo 3G will be ‘free’ for Telia Mobile Broadband customers for the entirety of 2008, provided they sign up before the end of this year. Other users will presumably be charged extra for using the new faster data service.

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Source:
http://www.wireless-watch.com/2007/...verage-offers-‘free’-35g-internet-for-a-year/
http://www.telia.se/privat/produkte...ivat_produkter_tjanster_mobilt_mobiltbredband


Take a look at the other offers that are currently available in Sweden. 1kr is approximately equal to R1. The first offer appears to be uncapped 7.2Mbps HSDPA for R100 per month.
http://www.tele2.se/mobilt-bredband.html
http://www.tre.se/templates/Broadband.aspx?id=27918

This post is a bit dated now but should explain things more clearly
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=73396

Now this is official, I hate Sweden (skulking off green with envy)

Send Poison Ivy and the rest of her cohorts over there to see how it's fscking done...

Grrr - now Sweden has oodles of bandwidth and tons of 6" blonde woman called Inga! I think I need to go live there!!!!

Do we need any more of these stories before the local operators get the message.

Prometheus said:

Do we need any more of these stories before the local operators get the message.

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What is the message that you are referring to? - is it perhaps that Telkodemonopolies still monopolises the wired fixed line market and that "the local operators" cannot afford to provide uncapped HSPA based on the exorbitant input costs that Telkodemonopolies has set for the local operators?

You will not see uncapped HSPA until such time as:

1. The local operators largely own and control their own fibre optic network infrastructure; and
2. The local operators have access to reasonably priced international bandwidth - IOW somewhere close to 2010 when SEACOM & EASSy should both be available to compete with SAT-3.

The message is that Telkom has not had anything to do with it for a long time. In a culture where everyone is used to the excessive prices coming from the monopoly stakeholder it is easy to point the finger. Take a look at the business practices of the others operators.

Sentech launched and did not roll out any new towers lately from what I can see. They end up cancelling their uncapped option losing most of their trusted user base. They did have a price reduction though but their low usage options is still way too expensive for the market. They stopped advertising now and need government to bail them out.

iBurst launched and didn't have any major price reduction over the whole period upto now. They had some specials to lock people into 24-month contracts and a small "data bonus" for those locked in users only. To top it all off they launch a pathetic 40MB service because "there's a market for it" but are still just as expensive now after almost 3 years. Even Telkom has had major price reductions (both consumer and wholesale) over that period compared to them.

MTN and Vodacom's bundles cost the same so as not to provide competition with the exception of their 350MB in place of Vodacom's 500MB that throws a spanner into the works for comparison. The after bundle rate on a contract is the same except that MTN does not have the larger bundles where it is R1/MB. They all have a 30 day expiry date. The out of bundle rate is R2/MB except for Virgin Mobile that broke the "rules" on all their prices. Tell me there is no collusion going on there.

Look at the profits that would not be higher than that of Telkom if they were really suffering so much at its hand. And the high interconnect fees while Cell C with least users can barely keep it's head above water if the reports are correct. Everyone can point fingers at Telkom but the blame lies partly on the shoulders of the duopoly between the cellular cartels and the culture of profiteering runs far deeper with the mobile operators than it ever did with Telkom.

I don't want uncapped hsdpa. I only want an affordable option. Everyone complained when only fixed line was higher than international standards. There's no reason not to complain now that mobile is getting multiple times more expensive than international standards.

Voda et al have had the right to self provision for years now and since recently Telkom is not the only provider of point to point and global E1, E3, DS3, and STM 1 to 16 leased lines.

P.S.: We can debate this in circles but one thing will finally settle it. While the rest of the world is moving along Telkom is used here as a convenient excuse for anyone that does not want to offer a good service at a reasonable price. If/When Neotel - who only had a few months to build a network from scratch after they were royally screwed when it was decided that Infraco will be the newest addition to the cashcow herd - provides cheaper and probably better services everyone will know that they have also been royally screwed and not just by Telkom...