Alcatel-Lucent and Qualcomm have announced a collaboration to develop next generation small cells base stations to enhance 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks.
The two vendors said they are keen to accelerate the adoption of small cells, which can ease mobile data traffic congestion on wireless networks, particularly in urban areas, shopping malls and other enterprise venues.
To achieve this, they will jointly invest in an R&D programme to create 3G/4G small cells base stations using Qualcomm’s FSM99xx portfolio of small cells chipsets, together with A-L’s family of lightRadio small cells products.
“This initiative perfectly illustrates The Shift Plan we announced last month, which will see AL focus on growth technologies, including those facilitating ultra-broadband access,” said Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent.
“We also said we would actively seek collaboration with key industry players. In working together with Qualcomm Technologies – a world leader in advanced wireless platform solutions such as its small cell chipsets – A-L will continue to be positioned at the forefront of innovation in the small cells market.”
In June at the Small Cells World Summit in London, Qualcomm launched FSM99xx, a new portfolio of integrated 3G/4G LTE small cells processors that have been specially designed to go into picocell, Metrocell and enterprise small cells.
A-L took part in Mobile Europe’s annual Small Cells Roundtable discussion on “The role of small cells in a 4G LTE world” in May, where George Noon, Senior Product Director at AL, stressed that since operators are all seeking end-to-end small cells solutions, vendors need to work together to solve the small cells capacity issue. (http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/Press-Wire/small-cells-roundtable-live-news-blog-small-cells-in-an-lte-world)
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