Under a new global frame agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will have the opportunity to provide Telenor with small cell base stations to support its customers. These small cells could be used to improve mobile broadband coverage in homes, offices and public locations in the 11 countries in which Telenor operates across Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia.
Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells or ‘femtocell’ base stations extend a network to enhance coverage in areas where it can be traditionally poor, such as buildings which can interfere with the quality of a mobile signal. They can also be applied in rural or remote areas far from a cellular network base station, as well as busy public areas such as shopping malls and airports, where crowds of people and their mobile devices can also impede mobile coverage and capacity.
Alcatel-Lucent small cell base stations are installed with ‘plug-and-play’ simplicity, and can be easily set-up for residential or small company use. The range also includes Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Cell, designed for companies of all sizes to cost-effectively provide employees with high-quality mobile broadband coverage.
In addition to increased coverage and higher quality calls, new femtocell services are being made available using the information stored in the cell itself, such as the location of a mobile device as it is recognised in the vicinity of a femtocell. In the home, this could involve setting up a text message to be sent to a working parent to say their child has arrived home from school; in a work environment, the Enterprise cell can recognize employees’ mobile devices as they arrive for work and send out mass text announcements with practical information – even news of the day’s café specials! As more and more of these services are developed, Telenor will be able to deliver even more opportunities for consumers and businesses.
Robert Malm, Managing Director of Alcatel-Lucent in the Nordics and Baltics said: “Alcatel-Lucent has a long history of providing service providers such as Telenor with technical innovations and solutions that address their unique needs as well as those of their subscribers. We are pleased to be working hand-in-hand with Telenor to deliver our market-leading Femtocells to enhance mobile broadband speeds and coverage for their customers. Our Femtocells and ground-breaking lightRadio™ product portfolio help service providers as they evolve their networks to meet the growing demand from their customers for mobile data services, and give them opportunities to expand their business into new areas. Our work with Telenor under this agreement also will allow us to jointly explore how our lightRadio Metrocell product can help meet the company’s evolving needs.”
As required by Telenor under the agreement Alcatel-Lucent will be able to provide its end-to-end Femto-technology based 9360 Small Cell solution, including the 9361 Home Cell, the 9362 Enterprise Cell and the 9366 Small Cell Gateway. The solution includes a network management system which combines Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless Management System, Wireless Provisioning System and the Home Device Manager from its Motive Product Division. Alcatel-Lucent is providing full deployment and integration services along with design, installation and commissioning, software integration and project management.
Alcatel-Lucent will be able to provide comprehensive support to bring superior 3G data services to Telenor’s customers as fast as possible. A catalogue tailored to all of Telenor Group’s mobile operations covers design, installation, integration, testing, maintenance, and capacity management. As required Alcatel-Lucent can provide consistent quality of services for Telenor and its customers across all the markets in which it operates.