Telia Estonia announced plans to continue the expansion of its fiber-optic network in 2024, bringing ultra-fast internet connectivity to 9,000 homes. The company will continue to actively expand and modernise the fixed internet network this year, with network developments carried out in more than 20 regions across Estonia.
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Fiber Optic Network Expansion
"The main focus will be on building a light cable network for those Telia customers who currently use fixed Internet connections on a low-speed copper network. This year's major fiber optic network development projects will take place in Tallinn, Tartu, Parnu, Viljandi, Rakvere, Kuressaare, Kardla, and Harjumaa (Raasikul and Saku)," Telia Estonia said.
Overall, Telia plans to build a fiber optic cable network to more than 9,000 premises across Estonia to provide internet connections with speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
With this, Telia Estonia said, at the end of 2024, its high-speed fiber internet network should be available at more than 575,000 premises. The company said it will also inform all customers whose homes will receive a faster internet connection than before as part of network developments.
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Telia Starts Offering 5G on 26GHz Band
In an earlier development in February, Telia announced that it started offering the highest performance on its 5G Network in the new 5G frequency band. The Estonian operator claimed that it was one of the first in Europe and the first in the Baltic countries to use the 26 GHz (millimeter) frequency band for commercial use in its 5G network.
As reported by TelecomTalk, the 5G base station operating in the 26 GHz frequency band was put into operation at the end of 2023 in the municipality of Kiili, where it serves Telia customers located in the village of Vaela.
According to Telia, the village of Vaela was chosen to use the new frequency band because it is difficult to build an optical network in the area.
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5G Advancements in Estonia
In the spring of 2023, Telia first tested the capacity of the new frequency band in Tallinn. The testing used the 26 GHz base station installed in Kristiine and two special routers to measure data speeds.
During the test, the download speeds transmitted by both routers simultaneously exceeded 2 Gbps, which also marked a new download speed record in the company's mobile network, while the highest upload speed was measured to be almost 600 Mbps, Telia reported.
In the future, Telia Estonia plans to use this frequency band precisely in locations where the fixed internet network does not reach today but where customers have a demand for a fast connection.