Small Cells: Coverage and capacity where it's needed

 

Better Quality of Experience (QoE)

Dramatically improve end-user QoE with Alcatel-Lucent small cells technology. Deliver a higher quality air interface. By moving the base station closer to the user equipment, end users benefit from more reliable data connections and higher data throughput.

The small cells' flat IP architecture also delivers a low-latency, full-speed experience. So users enjoy high-bandwidth services, such as streaming videos and mobile TV anywhere, indoors or out, with no quality degradation.

Feed the Need for Broadband
Deliver a Seamless Mobile Experience

Coverage and capacity for less

Small cells offer mobile service providers (MSPs) a cost-effective alternative to macro-only deployments for meeting growing coverage and capacity demands. That's because as small, low-cost access points, they are self-installed (home and enterprise cells) or easily installed by a single person (metro cells). Plus, as small cells are added, they offload traffic from the macro network. This increases available network capacity without the deployment of new macro sites.

Owned and managed by the MSP —metro cells, small cells — are most cost effective in areas where new macro sites are required. The larger the number of macro sites, the greater the economic benefits. Metro cells cost much less than macro radio equipment and they do not require civil works that contribute heavily to macro site deployment costs.

Key component of any HetNet

Today's macro-only networks will not be able to accommodate subscriber capacity and QoE expectations. What's needed is a heterogeneous (HetNet) network – one that combines a broad arsenal of wireless technologies and radio access options to cost effectively deliver coverage and capacity to all environments.As key components of HetNets, small cells are deployable anywhere, both indoors and out, that require a boost in coverage or capacity. They also support a multi-vendor environment, advanced interference mitigation and intelligent traffic management, while providing the end user with a seamless experience.

Lock in Your Competitive Advantage

For the Home

Small cells address coverage and capacity needs in the home.

The Alcatel-Lucent Small Cell solution for the home cost-effectively extends capacity and coverage to residences. The subscriber simply connects the 9361 Home Cell (HC) to power and a broadband Internet service; the 9361 HC automatically comes into service without any other user intervention. By moving the base station closer to the user equipment, the Home Cell delivers a higher quality air interface, dramatically improving the end user's quality of experience. Mobile subscribers experience better voice quality with no dropped calls due to dead zones, faster, more reliable data connections and higher data throughput.

With the recently announced Alcatel-lucent software licensing program and Broadcom reference design, the 9361 HC can be integrated into residential gateways from third-party CPE vendors. End users now have more device choices for home coverage, while operators can customize designs for their brand.

Small Cell solution for the Home brochure

For the Office

Today's businesses benefit from improved coverage and capacity.

Ideal for organizations experiencing poor in-building cellular performance, the Alcatel-Lucent Small Cell solution for the Enterprise cost-effectively extends network coverage and capacity to businesses. It delivers 5 bars voice quality, higher throughput, and faster more reliable data connections. The 9362 Enterprise Cell v1.5, supporting up to 8 users, is ideal for small companies.

The 9362 Enterprise Cell V2.2 effectively meets the needs of medium-to-large companies with pay-as-you grow capacity; it supports from 16 to 24 to 32 users, and field upgradable transmit power. With the Enterprise Cell's ability to form autonomous self-organizing groups of coverage, enterprises requiring many access points, are as easy to cover as offices needing only a single 9362 Enterprise Cell.

Small cell solution for the Enterprise brochure

For Urban and Rural Spaces

Small cells provide coverage and capacity for urban hotspots and rural notspots.

In today's environment, MSPs need to place coverage and capacity where it's needed fast. As low-powered devices that do not need site permits, metro cells are well-suited for providing dedicated capacity to high-use urban hotspots. These include hotel lobbies, restaurants, malls, train stations, airports and city streets. Metro cells are also ideal for covering holes within the macro network — and for extending coverage to remote rural locations where macros are not cost effective.

The newest additions to the Alcatel-Lucent metro cell portfolio are the Alcatel-Lucent 9764 Metro Cell Outdoor (MCO) and the 9768 Metro Radio Outdoor (MRO). Both are based on Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs' groundbreaking lightRadio™ cube technology. The 9764 MCO is located outdoors and covers outdoor or indoor locations, such as restaurants, stores, hotels and offices. The 9768 MRO delivers macro-like capacity to stadiums, campuses, airports, and other public areas where large numbers of people congregate.

Metro cell brochure

For Wi-Fi Integration

Smalls cells come with integrated Wi-Fi access points.

More people today own Wi-Fi enabled devices. They want to take advantage of these devices' higher speeds and lower costs for Internet access. Alcatel-Lucent Wi-Fi integrated metro cells, along with Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio™ Wi-Fi®, allow MSPs to offer Wi-Fi to enhance the overall user experience — with integrated billing included. Like W-CDMA and LTE, Wi-Fi becomes another automatic and secure technology for accessing the MSP's mobile services.

Incorporate Wi-Fi as part of your service with the Alcatel-Lucent 9764 Metro Cell Outdoor.

Why Thinking Small is Big Business

  • More than 70 percent of today's enterprises are interested in small cells
  • Nearly 45 percent of businesses will pay more for better mobile service inside their offices
  • Almost 90 percent want MSPs to overlay small cells to their Wi-Fi infrastructure
  • Enterprise Research Executive Summary white paper

Alcatel-Lucent Small Cells are driving a competitive advantage

  • One solution for all segments – residential, enterprise, and public places
  • Ready for massive small cells rollout
  • Cost-efficient coverage and capacity
  • Better QoE for mobile users
  • Easier deployment, maintenance, and optimization

Proven in large Tier 1 Commercial Networks

Alcatel-Lucent holds more than 31 MSP commercial small cell deployment agreements. Publicly announced customers include: Telefonica in Spain, Etisalat and du in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), MegaFon and VimpelCom in Russia, Optus in Australia, and the Vodafone Group, that selected Alcatel-Lucent as its preferred vendor for "Sure Signal" femtocell services in the UK and New Zealand, "Booster" in Italy, and "Private 3G Zone" in the Czech Republic.

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