Original article

Finland’s Ukko Mobile has contracted Omnitele to design a new LTE network that will overlay its existing CDMA network, which makes use of the 450Mhz spectrum bands. When launched, Ukko Mobile is expected to be the world’s first commercial deployment of a countrywide LTE network on 450MHz frequency band.

Omnitele’s scope of work included radio network design, mitigating the interference issues related to co-existence with TV broadcast network, and country border interference coordination.

“The coverage properties are truly impressive: countrywide network in whole Finland (~340 000 km2) can be achieved with only few hundred sites,” says Mikko Järvinen, Senior Consultant and project manager from Omnitele. Commercial launch of the new LTE network is scheduled for autumn 2014.