Skanova broadband for everyone in Municipality of Uddevalla

At the end of 2005, residents in the Municipality of Uddevalla will gain access to broadband. The municipality, located on the west coast of Sweden, has signed an agreement with TeliaSonera Network Sales for the build-out of a municipality-wide broadband network that will basically cover 100 percent of the municipality. The network will give households broadband speeds from 250 Kbit/s up to 24 Mbit/s.

According to the terms of the agreement, the network from TeliaSonera Network Sales will be completely finished by mid-December 2005 at the latest. All telecom switching centres in the Municipality of Uddevalla will be upgraded for ADSL by that time. ADSL technology utilises copper cable in the existing telephone network and allows a very high broadband penetration rate, even in rural areas. When the build-out is finished, virtually all residents in the municipality will have access to broadband service. Towns and communities in the municipality will also be interconnected by a network using fibre optic cable or radio links with very high transmission speeds. “Uddevalla needs a good infrastructure to remain an attractive municipality for both residents and the business community. For example, we have many one-man firms and small businesses in our municipality and broadband is necessary for these companies to continue their operations and develop in the future,” says Lennart Björk, chairman of the executive board for the Municipality of Uddevalla. Residents in the Municipality of Uddevalla are now free to choose one of the Internet operators that offer broadband services to consumers and companies through the network. Depending on their choice of operator, households can choose services with speeds from 250 Kbit/s up to 24 Mbit/s. Companies with heavy demands for broadband capacity can also connect to the fibre optic/radio link network to get very high transmission speeds. “With our offering we can build out the broadband network in a fast and cost-effective manner with a high penetration rate even in sparsely populated areas. The fact that we are signing our twentieth broadband agreement in Västra Götaland County indicates to us that our offering is very attractive and beneficial for municipalities,” says Monica Björk, acting head of TeliaSonera Network Sales. During the past two years TeliaSonera Network Sales has signed agreements to provide broadband networks to approximately 80 municipalities in Sweden, of which 20 in Västra Götaland County.