Telefonica Germany extends coverage with femtocells

Operator group Telefónica will deploy femtocells in Germany to extend its network coverage in areas where buildings’ walls can degrade the quality of a mobile signal or in areas far from a macro cell tower.

Supplied by kit vendor Alcatel-Lucent, the vendor said the technology will enhance 3G mobile broadband access for Telefónica’s customers in the country.

“Quality of service is one of Telefónica Germany’s major strategic goals,” said Juan Carlos Garcia, VP network engineering access and transport at Telefónica in Germany.

“Using Alcatel-Lucent’s Femto technology, our business customers have the option of enjoying high-quality 3G services for their voice and data communication. Our Signal Box by O2 increases the indoor quality of service and improves the experience of our customers.”

Alcatel-Lucent’s ‘plug-and-play’ femtocell solution includes femtocell gateways and modems that can be installed in enterprises or in outdoor locations in high density areas. The deal follows another announced in Spain earlier this month that saw Alcatel-Lucent awarded its largest LTE agreement in Western Europe to date

The femtocells, which Telefónica is marketing as “Signal Box by O2“, is around the size of a typical wifi base station and is linked with a cable to an internet connection and a power supply.

Earlier this month, Alcatel-Lucent was one of the vendors that was selected to provide equipment for Telefónica’s LTE network in Spain, along with Ericsson. Alcatel-Lucent said it will deploy 8,000 base stations for Telefónica in total, as well as its 5620 Service Aware Manager solution.

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