Uruguay’s state-owned national telecoms operator Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Antel) will deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells technology to expand the reach of its network in high-traffic locations and areas of limited coverage 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. Alcatel-Lucent will provide its complete end-to-end small cells solution, comprising enterprise cells, home cells, Metrocells, Small Cells Gateway and Management System (which includes the Motive Home Device Manager). Initial deployment of the Gateway and Management System has been completed, while small cells have been installed on customer sites since early 2014. ‘Antel is one of the most forward-looking service providers in Latin America,’ commented Gabriel Costa, head of Alcatel-Lucent in Uruguay.

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.’