Nokia has completed what it is claiming is the world’s largest indoor deployment of small cells, in a shopping centre in Chile.
The vendor worked with Telefónica Chile on the project, which added 3G and LTE capacity to the Costanera shopping centre in Santiago.
The Costanera has six floors and 168,000 square metres of retail space, which presented a challenge for operators to provide deep indoor coverage. The reinforced concrete structure also proved a hindrance for operators. More than 110,000 shoppers visit the Costanera daily.
Nokia upgraded and replaced the existing distributed antenna system with a network of its Flexi Zone small cells.
Dimitri Diliani, Head of Latin America Market at Nokia, said: “This project is a great example of how operators can benefit from using the Nokia Flexi Zone small cell family to meet the demands of mobile device users in a high-traffic indoor environment.
“The size of our small cells means they are unobtrusive in locations such as this while delivering huge capacity. They manage the demands of the surrounding area in which they are deployed, so in this instance can handle interference from the outdoor macro network ensuring that all subscribers remain on the dedicated indoor small cell network, even when near the edge of the building.”
Gustavo Marambio, Network Director at Telefónica Chile, added: “Telefónica is committed to ensuring our customers receive the highest quality of service. We are constantly looking for innovative technologies to provide the best connectivity to our users.”