Sweden grants emergency services 20 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum for 5G network

Sweden's Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) has handed the Swedish Civil Defence Agency 2×10 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band — frequencies last used for terrestrial television — to build a 5G emergency network called SWEN. The grant covers the 703–713 MHz and 758–768 MHz ranges and clears the way for the country's biggest public-safety communications overhaul in twenty years.

SWEN will replace Rakel, the encrypted national network that Swedish authorities have used for nearly two decades to coordinate rescue operations and crisis response. Rakel runs on TETRA, a standard built for secure voice calls with very little capacity for data. The new 5G system will carry real-time video and instant secure communication for social services, healthcare and crisis management.

The design is hybrid. A state-controlled core will sit on top of commercial 4G and 5G mobile networks, giving the system broad national coverage. The Civil Defence Agency says this architecture will let the system "scale for future needs".

Why replace Rakel now?

Swedish cybersecurity company Sectra, which helped build Rakel, says the current network's technology is increasingly outdated and cannot meet modern operational demands.

"Responders today require not only encrypted voice but also real-time video from drones and body cameras, secure access to patient data at accident sites, and the ability to exchange situational information instantly," the company wrote in 2025.

"Rakel's limited capacity means it cannot deliver these functions, which are now critical for operational efficiency and safety," Sectra continued. "This gap has become even more pressing in light of Europe's deteriorating security environment. A resilient society depends on the ability to maintain command and control in crisis, conflict and war."

Local authorities will develop and test SWEN between 2025 and 2027. Peter Janevik, head of one of the companies assessing the network's performance, stresses that reliability cannot be phased in gradually.

"With systems that are supposed to be very reliable, you can't have a phase where they don't work," he says. "Everything has to work immediately, so you must supplement that with testing to find any bugs before you put the systems into service. Everything you use to give the ambulance a route, for example, has to be compatible — phones, drones and apps."

The government expects SWEN to run alongside Rakel during 2028 and 2029 before permanently switching the older network off in 2030.

How does Sweden compare with its neighbours?

Sweden joins a wider European shift from TETRA to broadband networks based on IMT — LTE and 5G. The common pattern keeps the core under state ownership while commercial mobile operators supply radio access, usually with priority and pre-emption rights for emergency users.

• Finland leads the field. Its VIRVE 2.0 service runs on Elisa's commercial network, with TETRA due for full phase-out by 2028.
• Norway has a binding agreement with Telenor, Telia and Lyse to run its next-generation Nødnett over their 5G networks, targeting full implementation in 2029.
• France's Réseau Radio du Futur is designed to serve up to 300,000 users by 2028.
• The UK's Emergency Services Network, replacing the Airwave TETRA system, has been badly delayed and over budget. It was trialled at Notting Hill Carnival in August, but migration is not expected to finish until the end of the decade.
• Germany is moving slowest, still exploring LTE and 5G alongside TETRA rather than planning a full replacement in the near term.

What does the spectrum decision mean?

Europe's regulators divided the 700 MHz band between commercial mobile and emergency services a decade ago. When broadcasting vacated the band, the European Commission harmonised 694–790 MHz for wireless broadband with national flexibility. CEPT then set harmonised technical conditions for broadband public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) systems, offering three placement options:

• 698–703/753–758 MHz
• 733–736/788–791 MHz
• 703–733/758–788 MHz (the main band)

Countries chose different routes. France picked the small 2×5 MHz and 2×3 MHz blocks next to the mobile band. Germany auctioned the main band to mobile operators instead. Sweden's emergency services argued for 2×10 MHz within the main band, and PTS has now granted exactly that.

The Commission's recent proposal for a European Union Critical Communication System (EUCCS) would push member states to migrate emergency services from narrowband to broadband, built on commercial networks where possible. It cites the "up to 8 MHz of paired spectrum for critical communications" available under the 2016 harmonisation decision — less than the 2×10 MHz Sweden has now secured for SWEN. With Rakel switching off in 2030, the same year the Commission proposes the first member states connect to EUCCS, Sweden has set itself a tight but clearly dated path to a broadband blue-light network.