TeliaSonera Finland Oyj and Pohjois-Karjalan Tietotekniikkakeskus Oy have signed an agreement on the delivery of the fast regional Maakuntaverkko II covering the province of North Karelia. According to the agreement, Sonera will by the end of the current year deliver to the municipal communities of North Karelia a very fast and secure data network based on the Sonera Regional Network solution. The network enables the availability of backbone connections of up to 10 GB to North Karelia’s all municipalities and the federations of municipalities. The agreement is in force for 3 years; in addition, the agreement includes 3 option years, one year at a time.

The solution will create a solid basis for the networking operations and network services of the municipalities and the federations of municipalities. Maakuntaverkko II will meet the present and future challenges of data communications and data security and promote the development of the network infrastructure of the whole province particularly as concerns the connections needed by companies.

The Regional Network solution covers the whole region of North Karelia. The network has also high quality and fast connection outside the region. The transmission rate of the customer subscription is optionally 10, 100 or 1000 MB.

Maakuntaverkko II, which is based on the Sonera Regional Network solution, consists of an ultra-fast backbone network and fibre optic based customer subscriptions. Third parties’ networks can be information securely integrated into Maakuntaverkko. Voice, data and moving image will be transferred in Maakuntaverkko.

Sonera is responsible for the network management and supervision and for the maintenance of the joint firewall of the network solution as a service based on the monthly charge.

In municipal connections, the traffic is securely divided into administration, health care, student environment, and the necessary authorities operations.

”In North Karelia, we have created systematic co-operation in information technology between the municipal players already since the 1990s. Maakuntaverkko has been in the municipal players’ joint use since 2003. The Maakuntaverkko II phase that comprises an ultra-fast backbone network and fibre optic based customer subscriptions will be launched on 1 January 2007 as a co-operation of Pohjois-Karjalan Tietotekniikkakeskus Oy, the municipal players and TeliaSonera Finland Oy. We selected Sonera as our operator partner, because its solution proved to be advanced and cost-effective. Sonera has already strong evidence of delivering a functioning regional network to Etelä-Karjalan Tietomaakunta”, says managing Director Matti Hakojoki of Pohjois-Karjalan Tietotekniikkakeskus Oy.

“Cities and municipalities are a really important customer group for Sonera. Their role as a builder of the information society is essential. Sonera wants to contribute to and be a partner of this development work. We want to promote the communications and productivity of municipal and business organizations by developing and providing network and service solutions that utilize the latest technology and, for their part, enable the development and implementation of the operations models of public sector entities”, says Jorma Maaninka, Head of Sales Area East of TeliaSonera Finland.