Telenor Selects Danish Manufacturer for New Wi-Fi 6 Router

Press release 17-03-2020

Telenor has chosen the Danish firm, Icotera to develop its new high-end router, which will provide thousands of Swedish homes with Wi-Fi 6. The company’s capacity to combine the latest Wi-Fi standard with elegant, minimalist Scandinavian design was the reason Telenor opted for Icotera instead of a major, international router manufacturer. The new Wi-Fi 6 router reflects Icotera’s and Telenor’s conviction that high Internet speeds do not automatically solve consumers’ Wi-Fi challenges. What they need is better routers in their homes.

Scandinavian consumers have high expectations when it comes to Internet performance. But the appearance of the router is also high priority. Most people want stylish, discreet equipment that looks great in a room.

Rooted in the Nordic design tradition, the Danish router manufacturer Icotera has many years of experience in developing hardware that caters for the needs of Scandinavian consumers. That was the deciding factor when it came to Telenor in Sweden selecting Icotera to develop the telecommunications giant’s first Wi-Fi 6 router, instead of a major international router manufacturer.

“Our goal was to provide our customers with the best on the best wireless network standard in the current market: Wi-Fi 6. The new router must deliver maximum performance and coverage, but it must be compatible with our demand for simple, elegant, minimalist design,” says Carl Gunnstam, Telenor’s Head of Products and Customer Value Proposition. “Icotera’s ability to unite modern design with high technical capacity is exceptional, and we look forward to offering our customers the benefits that such expertise implies.”

Telenor’s Wi-Fi 6 router is a so-called 8x8 router: i.e. 8 antennas for transmitting with and 8 antennas for receiving. Wi-Fi 5 routers generally run with a maximum of 4x4. What this means for consumers, in purely technical terms, is that the router provides much higher speed, improved stability and significantly greater range – even for existing devices based on older Wi-Fi technology.

Wi-Fi 6 will solve many people’s everyday issues
The new Wi-Fi 6 router will help solve some of the day-to-day wireless Internet challenges, with which many users struggle.

“It is particularly the high Scandinavian Internet speeds and solid walls in homes that place great demands on the router to get the full speed all the way to users’ devices. Unfortunately, many people experience that they cannot cover their entire home wirelessly. They often find they are not receiving the speed they are paying for,” says René Brøchner, CEO of Icotera.

In Scandinavia, it is no longer just a matter of delivering higher speeds to individual homes, but of ensuring that the speed you have purchased is accessible throughout your home.

This is the very problem Telenor will put paid to by offering the new Wi-Fi 6 router as part of its wireless Internet solution. According to René Brøchner, this is an important priority: “Today, we are always online and often on many devices at the same time - and we like to move around the home and expect the Internet to follow us at all times. This places great demands on our in-home coverage. So, in order to achieve an optimal Wi-Fi experience, a high-quality router is a must.”

The Wi-Fi 6 standard is theoretically capable of delivering up to 10 times more speed than that provided by a typical Wi-Fi 5 router. However, it is not enough simply to look at the specification in the standard, since design and implementation are also important for the best possible experience. The 2.5Gbit/s platform, on which the Telenor router is based, will provide customers with far higher speeds on their wireless devices than before.

Unnecessary access points
Today, it is virtually more the rule than the exception to try to fix unstable in-home Wi-Fi by connecting access points and extenders to the network. But this is by no means always the right solution.

“In fact, if it is powerful enough, 70-80% of all Scandinavian homes can be covered by a single router. But today, if coverage fails, we tend to try and extend the range by connecting more access points. In fact, in many cases the problem could be solved with a router with the right capacity and implementation from the start,” says René Brøchner. 

The new Telenor router is built with 2-4 times more antennas than a typical Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 router. This means that there is less need for access points. For a large number of people, this means a simpler set-up with maximum coverage, ultimately providing a much better user experience.

“The 8x8 router that supports Wi-Fi 6 will significantly reduce the need for more devices in the home, because it provides better coverage than a 4x4 router. The fact is, the greater the capacity of your router, the better your Wi-Fi experience,” concludes René Brøchner. 

Telenor expect their new Wi-Fi 6 router to come to market during 2020.

Media contact:

Icotera
René Brøchner, CEO
Mail: rb@icotera.com
Tel: +45 20 20 80 50