Finland - the end of GSM

Teleoperators preparing to abandon their GSM networks

The GSM networks which have been operating in Finland since 1991 are coming to the end of their shelf-life.

Teleoperators TeliaSonera, Elisa, and DNA are unanimous in their decisions to abandon the old GSM networks, as it is simply too expensive for the operators to support 2G networks in parallel to 3G networks.

The main reason to abandon the old GSM nets running at the 2100 MHz frequency is the opening of the 900 MHz frequency band for 3G networks. The new network will cover the entire country.

Moreover, the third-generation mobile phones have become a great deal more widely used in Finland over the past less than two years. At present, the number of 3G mobile phone subscriptions is already more than one million.

Today, more than one-third of all mobile phone handsets sold in Finland are 3G phones. The sales of theses devices were boosted by the decision made by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in the spring of 2006 to allow tie-in deals for a test period of three years, offering a 3G handset with a mobile phone subscription.

The teleoperators promise that the present GSM phones of ordinary consumers will operate in Finland long into the next decade.

The opening of the new 900 MHz frequency band for 3G networks does not mean that the present 3G handsets would stop working, as the current 3G network will operate also in the future.

The most modern mobile phones operate in any event at both frequencies.

”By 2010, we will have a 3G network covering the entire country. We will not even consider abandoning the 2G network until the range of the new 3G network is as extensive as that of the current GSM network”, says director Petteri Niemi from DNA.

Elisa’s decision to abandon its 2G network was influenced by the fact that the GSM network equipment would need software updating around 2010. Moreover, their operating life will come to an end in 2015 at the latest.

Currently there are just four 3G mobile phone types operating at the 900 MHz frequency available in Finland. However, there is reason to believe that the number of such handsets will increase appreciably in the future, when the operators adopt the lower frequency for their 3G networks worldwide.