The Icelandic mobile phone operator Nova yesterday sent the country’s post and communications agency an application for a 4G network trials licence.
Nova has asked the agency for permission to use the 1800MHz bandwidth and has already made a 4G contract with Huawei Technologies to allow the companies to prepare a 4G mobile phone and internet service for Iceland.
A statement says that Nova started building Iceland’s first 3G phone and internet service in 2006 when the company was granted a 3G trials licence and then a commercial operator’s licence in March 2007. 3G wireless networks are now in use all over the world and the company wants to take its first steps into 4G service. Data transfer speeds are much better with 4G and the door is opened to new service possibilities for companies and individual users, Nova states.
Mao Hauhui, director of Huawei in the Nordic region, says he is happy that Nova is taking the 4G plunge and that Iceland will join the growing list of countries with 4G networks. Norway and Sweden were the first countries in the world to offer 4G at the end of 2009.
Chairman of Nova’s board of directors, Tomas Otto Hansson, says that the company has been a 3G leader in Iceland with its emphasis on internet for phones and mobile dongles for laptops. “The 4G contract with Huawei underlines Nova’s commitment to maintain its leading role in wireless communication in Iceland,” he said.
