Telecom network vendor Ericsson said 100 telecoms have adopted its Radio Dot System to improve indoor app coverage.
Sichuan Mobile, a mobile operator in western China, is Ericsson’s 100th Radio Dot System operator customer. Sichuan Mobile has made investment in Ericsson Radio Dot System for improving indoor app coverage in office buildings, shopping malls, college campuses and hospitals.
Chen Ke, general manager of Ziyang branch of Sichuan Mobile, said: “We like the Radio Dot System because it is fast and easy to deploy, and enables us to address both current and future indoor capacity requirements by just updating the software.”
Ericsson indoor small cell solution deployment facts
# launched in fourth quarter 2014
# 44 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa
# 39 percent in Asia Pacific Region
# 17 percent in North and South America
# 77 percent of Radio Dot Systems live with LTE
Ericsson says 77 percent of Radio Dot Systems have gone live with LTE – almost 10 percent of those support dual-mode LTE and WCDMA on the same Dots.
Though about 90 percent of time is spent indoors, three in 10 smartphone users find indoor voice quality, coverage and reliability to be good, according to Ericsson ConsumerLab survey.
The indoor coverage challenge will be exacerbated by the 11 times growth in smartphone traffic forecast from 2015 to 2021, with around 90 percent of mobile data traffic expected to come from smartphones in 2021.
In Radio Dot System deployments around the world, mobile data throughput has improved by up to five times, dropped calls have been reduced to zero and installation times are as low as four minutes per Dot.
The company said Dots support LTE (both TDD and FDD), WCDMA and dual-mode combinations. In live Radio Dot System deployments, 77 percent support LTE, with almost 10 percent of those running dual-mode LTE and WCDMA on the same Dots.
Arun Bansal, head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson, said: “Radio Dots are improving indoor app coverage for smartphone users around the world, and with simple software upgrades, they will continue to, as mobile connectivity demand increases for both people and things.”
