Etisalat First to Deploy 'Femtocells' in the UAE

DUBAI, October 19, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Etisalat, the Middle East's leading telecommunications service provider today announced the deployment of the first femtocell live project in the UAE, provided by Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU). Etisalat's customers will benefit from an enhanced quality of mobile broadband connectivity in remote areas of the UAE, and in high traffic places that require higher mobile broadband bandwidth. Etisalat is targeting the commercial launch of the technology within the UAE following the initial successful testing.

"Etisalat has always been an innovator in bringing technologies that better serve its customers. This technology has the potential to support increased growth in the usage and consumption of data services and can play a crucial role in satisfying the explosive growth of mobile broadband usage in the UAE," said Khalifa Al Shamsi, senior vice president of Marketing at Etisalat. "Etisalat customers will not only benefit from improved coverage, but will also enjoy increased data capacity and uninterrupted, high-quality mobile connectivity."

Amr El Leithy, president of Alcatel-Lucent's business in the Middle East and Africa said, "This decision reinforces Alcatel-Lucent's leading position in the small cell field and confirms our ability to help major operators to deal with one of the biggest trends in wireless communications, extending indoor mobile coverage to in-building environments."

Etisalat today offers mobile broadband services and allows customers to enjoy the maximum expected performance with the region's fastest speeds in the UAE to be upgraded to 42.2Mbs on the HSPA+ (3.75G) network; and the widest 3G network covering 99% of the country's populated area. This provides customers with a superior wireless data experience when they access their mobile social network, stream videos or share content. To derive maximum benefit of Etisalat's services based on its advanced technologies, including HSPA+, customers can avail of technology-compatible devices such as Etisalat's HSPA+ routers, 3G USB modems and smart device bundles.

About the Alcatel-Lucent Small Cell approach

Through a series of 12 new small cell contract wins in only three months, Alcatel-Lucent is clearly establishing itself as the leading end-to-end Femto/small cell vendor, currently holding more than 20 trials and 14 commercial deployment agreements.

The Alcatel-Lucent Small Cell portfolio currently consists of the 9361 Home Cell and the 9362 Enterprise Cell. Alcatel-Lucent's Small Cell approach benefits from the company's unique expertise in bringing together wireless and IP technologies into a single, coherent network. It is an integral part of Alcatel-Lucent's Application Enablement vision - building on its High Leverage Network(TM) architecture to deliver wireless IP services. Alcatel-Lucent is leading in small cells with an unrivaled end-to-end portfolio that includes innovation from Bell Labs such as support systems for customer care and self-organizing networks (SON).

Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs' SON innovations significantly reduce operational expenses while improving network performance. Not only does SON empower Alcatel-Lucent's Small Cell portfolio to automatically configure at power up; it also enables the small cells to periodically monitor, update and optimize their neighbor relation lists and handover parameters - thus reducing handover failures by up to 80%. Using SON technology, Alcatel-Lucent's Small Cell portfolio also has the capability to continuously adjust transmit power to the surrounding environment - to deliver the best possible coverage.

More information:

http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wireless/femto_small_cells.html

About Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent & Etisalat