Antel to increase mobile ultra-broadband capacity and coverage in high-traffic areas of Uruguay with Alcatel-Lucent small cells

Antel (Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones), Uruguay’s government-owned telecommunications company and leading mobile operator, and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), today announced that Alcatel-Lucent small cells technology is to expand the reach of its network in high-traffic and hard-to-reach places such as homes, businesses, sports stadiums and shopping malls.

Small cells boost cellular signal levels in areas where existing coverage is insufficient due to interference from buildings, geography or distance from a cell tower, or where large concentrations of users place a strain on the network. In addition, Antel’s use of Alcatel-Lucent small cells will simplify how quickly the process is scaled to meet needs of residential customers or those at work.

Antel selected Alcatel-Lucent  to provide LTE and 3G technology for its mobile networks. With the addition of small cells, Antel will add the ability to create seamless heterogeneous networks (‘HetNets’) that combine a number of wireless technologies to cost effectively deliver coverage and capacity to all environments.

Small Cells will be particularly effective in Uruguay where 55 percent of the country’s population resides in the metropolitan area surrounding the nation’s capital, Montevideo.

Key Facts:

• Antel selects Alcatel-Lucent to provide complete end-to-end small cells solution: enterprise cells, home cells, Metrocells, Small Cells Gateway and Management System (which includes the Motive Home Device Manager)
• Antel’s contract extension with Alcatel-Lucent includes the supply, installation, commissioning and O&M for a Small Cells Core and a variety of enterprise and Home Cells.
• Initial deployment of the Gateway and Management System has been accomplished, while Small Cells are being installed on customer sites since early 2014.
• Antel’s deployment of Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells solution is a primary example of an industry transformation in network architecture that will include large scale integration of small cells as part of a heterogeneous network (Hetnet).
• Small cells can improve the quality-of-experience for 3G customers whenever they require both voice and high speed data by making more effective use of available wireless spectrum.
• Alcatel-Lucent’s small cell portfolio has over 115 contracts with 67 operators, in 46 countries, with over 20 ongoing trials.

Quote:

Gabriel Costa, head of Alcatel-Lucent in Uruguay, said: “Antel, is one of the most forward-looking service providers in Latin America.  In addition to supporting the existing 3G network, Alcatel-Lucent helped Antel launch the first commercial LTE network/service in Latin America. With the addition of our small cells technology Antel is underscoring its confidence in Alcatel-Lucent as it continues to serve its customers.”

About Antel:

Antel is the state-owned telecommunications provider in Uruguay, with 40 years of experience leading the Uruguayan market. Its main role is to provide communications services (fixed, mobile, data, content and VAS) to contribute to the development of the society, the culture and the country’s production.

The company has made ​​a strong commitment to universal access to broadband by deploying a nationwide fiber optic network, and it is the first company in Latin America to provide its customers with LTE technology, placing Uruguay among the top 10 countries with the highest rate of access to information technology. Antel reaches a total of 62 % of households across the country. Through it social commitment platform, it provides free connectivity to all laptops given to each child in public schools across the country, cellular services to teachers, as well as free software and Internet access PC to less affluent households. For more information, visit www.antel.com.uy.

Antel Press Contact:

prensa@antel.com.uy