French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom is to use Alcatel-Lucent’s femtocell technology to provide a premium indoor 3G service to enterprise customers.
AL’s Femto Enterprise V2.2 small cells product is a plug and play solution designed to extend network coverage in areas where a building’s walls are degrading the quality of a mobile signal, or in locations that are out of reach of the macro network.
“Quality of Service is one of Bouygues Telecom’s major strategic axis in a very competitive landscape in France. It is therefore a great benefit to offer our mobile customers the option of also enjoying high quality 3G services especially when they are in their office building,” said Jean-Paul Arzel, Network Director of Bouygues Telecom.
“Increasing the indoor quality of service and experience of our customers with small cells brings an agile and very interesting alternative as compared to outdoor radio sites which have increasingly become a challenge to modify or build.”
Bouygues Telecom has 11.3 million mobile subscribers and 1.9 million fixed broadband customers, including over 1.5 million professional and corporate clients.
The French operator is an industry trendsetter, having been the first operator to offer unlimited call plans in 1999, fixed-mobile convergence to enterprises in 2007, the first quadruple offering in 2009 and the first SIM-only web-only offer in 2011.