Small Cells, Big Impact - From AT&T Blog

We plan to roll out more than 40,000 small cells by the end of 2015. To do this, we’ve already begun testing the technology in the field with our first trial deployments in the areas of Crystal Lake Park, Mo. and Waukesha, Wis.

In Crystal Lake Park, a suburb of St. Louis, we deployed metrocells in an outdoor residential area with poor coverage due to geographical challenges. The small cells have shown to be an effective solution, allowing for a 17 percent increase in mobile traffic on our network where the solution was deployed and boosting the outdoor area to nearly 100 percent usable coverage.

We also trialed the small cells in one of our previously problematic buildings in Waukesha, Wis., and generated equally impressive results. The trial decreased the dropped call rate in the building, allowed for a 15 percent increase in mobile traffic on our network where the solution was deployed and also resulted in nearly 100 percent usable coverage.

10 Metrocell (3G and LTE) trials in the CALA region

Alcatel-Lucent has long claimed that femtocells and metrocells can boost wireless networks, but this time, it seems that carriers are also betting on the technology. According to Osvaldo di Campli, Alcatel-Lucent’s president of the Caribbean and Latin American (CALA) region, three femtocell contracts have been signed in Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. Di Campli said that there are ten metrocell trials across CALA, using both metrocell equipment for 3G and LTE, in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Uruguay.
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