Sweden’s TeliaSonera said Friday it had acquired new frequencies through a government telecommunications licence auction after bidding SEK854 million which it would use to further expand its growing next-generation 4G network.

The telecommunications firm said it had been awarded a licence by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency within the 800 MHz band. TeliaSonera said the licence award will enable it to further expand the first and “most extensive” 4G network in Sweden.

“Together with the company’s investments in fixed broadband and other mobile networks, this will give our customers the best Internet access wherever they are,” the president of TeliaSonera’s Mobility Services division, Hakan Dahlstrom, said in a statement.

TeliaSonera has aggressively developed its 4G capabilities since it became the first global operator to launch commercial next-generation mobile broadband in December 2009 by opening 4G networks in Stockholm and Oslo.

Last year, the company launched 4G networks in Denmark, Finland and Estonia and it has also deployed pilot 4G networks in Lithuania, Latvia and Uzbekistan.

The government licence granted to the telecommunications group is valid for 25 years and covers the frequency blocks of 2×10 MHz in the 800 MHz frequency band. TeliaSonera will make the SEK854 million payment to the government for the licence in the second quarter of 2011.

The company also has operations in Russia, Turkey and Spain and reported net sales of SEK107 billion in 2010.