Slovakian operator Slovak Telekom has launched LTE services in five of the nation’s cities. The operator claims the network is the largest LTE rollout in Slovakia to date.

Ericsson was appointed as the sole supplier for the radio network, which is based on the vendor’s multi-standard RBS 6000 base station. The deal also includes systems integration, network optimization, multi-vendor verification and other related services. The network operates at 1800MHz and offers speeds of up to 73Mbps download and 23Mbps upload. Slovak Telekom will evolve its current voice business to support VoLTE in the future.

Slovak Telekom is majority owned by German operator group Deutsche Telekom and currently has 2.27 million subscribers, second to Orange Slovak Republic with 2.77 million subscribers, according to Informa’s WCIS.

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“We have launched the first Slovak nationwide LTE network and our ambition is to build the most advanced mobile network in our country,” commented Miroslav Majoroš, chairman and CEO at Slovak Telekom. “Following the launch in five cities we plan to cover 20 per cent population of Slovakia in first three months and more locations will follow in 2014.”

Ercisson said that the LTE rollout contract marks the continuation of a 16-year cooperation between the vendor and Slovak Telekom. Ericsson is the operator’s sole supplier of Slovak Telekom’s 2G and 3G radio, as well as circuit core hardware and software.