Contract includes both indoor and outdoor small cells.
Ericsson and Australian operator Telstra partnered to deploy LTE small cell solutions. The deal includes Ericsson’s Radio Dot System and Pico Cell RBS 6402.
“The outdoor small cell deployment and indoor small cell solutions are the latest step in our ongoing strategic partnership with Ericsson. Telstra has already deployed small cells in 50 rural towns across Australia. The result has been greater coverage and improved broadband experience for residents and business in these towns,” explained Mike Wright, group managing director of networks in Telstra Operations. “With this new agreement, Telstra can increase the small cell rollout across Australia. In urban areas we are looking forward to delivering better indoor coverage not only for individual customers in office buildings, but also to our enterprise customers in shopping centers and large indoor venues.”
Ericsson said the deployment of its macro and small cell solutions will allow Telstra to achieve a coordinated elastic radio access network architecture, providing additional carrier aggregation and coordinated multipoint gains.
Bharti Airtel offers LTE in 22 telecoms circles in India
In other APAC news, Indian telecommunications firm Bharti Airtel launched commercial LTE services in Assam, with the network going live in the cities Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.
The telco deployed its TD-LTE network using spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band, with plans to also deploy FDD-LTE technology in the 1800 MHz band in the coming weeks. Airtel launched its first LTE network in Kolkata in April 2012, with the network currently available in certain areas of India’s 22 circles.
