Broadband network in Härryda penetrates entire municipality

Press Release November 9, 2004 Broadband network in Härryda penetrates entire municipality The build-out of a municipality-wide broadband network is now finished in Härryda, located just southeast of Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. Virtually all residents in the municipality now have access to broadband service. The network, which gives households broadband with speeds up to 8 Mbit/s, was officially inaugurated by the municipality and the network provider, TeliaSonera Network Sales, on Tuesday, November 9. The build-out agreement between the Municipality of Härryda and TeliaSonera Network Sales was signed in February this year and the network, which has a penetration rate of 100 percent in the municipality, is now ready for service. On Tuesday, representatives from the municipality, local businesses and TeliaSonera officially opened the network at a ceremony held in Härryda's municipal building. "It feels really good to have the entire network in service. Broadband is extremely important, especially for small companies in our municipality, which have been experiencing some problems in conducting their business without fast connectivity. However, broadband is also a highly necessary service for ordinary households today," says Göran Hildén, commissioner for the Municipality of Härryda. Residents are free to choose one of the eight operators that will provide broadband services to consumers through the network, and companies can choose one of the eight that provide service to enterprises. Depending on their choice of broadband provider, all households and companies located within a link distance of 3.5 km from a switching centre will have broadband with speeds up to 8 Mbit/s. Those located within a link distance of 9 km can have broadband with speeds up to 0.5 Mbit/s. All telecom switching centres in the municipality have been upgraded for ADSL, which utilises copper cable in the existing telephone network and allows a very high broadband penetration rate. Switching centres are also linked by a fibre optic network with a very high transmission speed. "Using this technology, we can offer a fast and cost-effective broadband build-out with a very high penetration rate. Härryda is yet another municipality in Sweden to get a broadband network with 100 percent penetration and we're naturally very pleased to be the provider," says Susanne Jacobsson, head of TeliaSonera Network Sales. During the past year TeliaSonera has signed agreements to provide broadband networks to approximately 75 municipalities in Sweden, of which 18 in Västra Götaland County. For further information journalists can contact: TeliaSonera's Press Office, phone +46 8 713 58 30 TeliaSonera is the leading telecommunications company in the Nordic and Baltic regions. At the end of December 2003 TeliaSonera had 11,957,000 mobile customers (37,610,000 incl associated companies) and 8,061,000 fixed customers (9,160,000 incl associated companies) and 1,631,000 internet customers (1,691,000 incl associated companies). Outside the home markets TeliaSonera has extensive interests in the growth markets in Russia, Turkey and Eurasia. TeliaSonera is listed on the Stockholm Exchange and the Helsinki Exchanges. Pro forma net sales January-December 2003 amounted to SEK 81.7 billion (EUR 9.01 billion). The number of employees was 26,694 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/11/09/20041109BIT20740/wkr0007.pdf Broadband network in Härryda.... as Pdf