Telenor Sweden launches new Icotera Wi-Fi 6 Router

Press release 27-10-2020

The new Wi-Fi 6 router is designed to solve some of the biggest wireless internet challenges in Nordic homes, and will not only bring more speed, but a much better in-home internet experience - making it faster, more liable and ready for the future.

Telenor´s first Wi-Fi 6 router is developed by the Danish router manufacturer Icotera, who has many years of experience in developing hardware and software that caters to the needs of Scandinavian consumers.

“Our goal is to provide our customers with the ultimate wireless network standard in the market: Wi-Fi 6. The router must deliver maximum performance and coverage, and at the same time be future proof and compatible with our demand for simple and elegant design,” says Carl Gunnstam, Telenor’s Head of Products and Customer Value Proposition. “Our new Wi-Fi 6 router accommodates all aspects. We expect it to be a gamechanger for the internet experience in Sweden and are very excited that the router is now ready to be launched.”

Wi-Fi 6: A solution to improve the in-home internet experience
The new Wi-Fi 6 router is a long-awaited solution, to the daily wireless internet challenges currently facing many end users. 

“In Scandinavia we see a range of specific challenges for the end-users. High internet speeds and increasing usage of streaming & gaming from multiple simultaneous users adds further demands to the wireless networks. It is no longer just a matter of delivering higher speeds to individual homes, but to ensure that the provided speed is accessible throughout the home with reliable internet access to all users simultaneously. This makes high-end Wi-Fi products more relevant than ever for the many end-users who are struggling to cover their entire home and actually receive the speed and experience they are paying for,” says René Brøchner, CEO of Icotera.

Telenor´s new Wi-Fi 6 router is designed to solve all these problems. According to René Brøchner, this is an intelligent approach: “The new Wi-Fi 6 router is capable of delivering up to 10 times more speed than a typical Wi-Fi 5 router. But the way we use the Internet today places great demands on our in-home coverage, and the answer is not only higher speed – high quality routers are equally playing a more and more important role in order to achieve an optimal Wi-Fi experience.”

Capacity and implementation are key
Today, many users will try to fix an unstable in-home Wi-Fi experience by connecting access points and extenders to the network. Going forward a router with the right capacity and implementation from the start will be a better and cheaper solution. 

“The new Telenor Wi-Fi 6 router is equipped with 8x8 5 GHz antennas, which is up to 4 times more than in a typical router. To really support multi-user scenarios a minimum of 5x5 5 GHz antennas is required, which is currently only provided by ON Semiconductor. More antennas mean that there is less need for access points, and for many users, this equals a simpler set-up with maximum coverage - or put in short, a much better user experience,” says René Brøchner.

“Our 12x12 (8x8 + 4x4) MIMO architecture is designed for high-end Wi-Fi solutions,” says Irvind Ghai, vice president of marketing, Wireless Connectivity & Signal Processing Division at ON Semiconductor. “We are happy to contribute to the Telenor Wi-Fi 6 router with our chipset platform and improve the overall in-home Wi-Fi experience in Scandinavian households.”

“The solution that Telenor has chosen, is in line with what we see other European Tier 1s like Deutsche Telekom are starting to offer to their customers to meet the future demands from a Wi-Fi 6 point of view. It’s just a matter of time before 8x8 5 GHz antennas becomes the standard for high-end Wi-Fi 6 solutions,” René Brøchner adds.

Telenor is expecting a six-digit yearly rollout in the upcoming 12-24 months. Carl Gunnstam concludes: “We set the bar high, when initializing the development of our new router - and now that it's ready to be launched, we are proud to say that the Nordic users can safely place their expectations equally high. With our ambitious rollout we look forward to enhancing the Wi-Fi experience for our customers.”

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