WNA

Alcatel-Lucent today announced the deployment of its small cell solutions in the Verizon Wireless network.

The Alcatel-Lucent small cells are being deployed in indoor and outdoor locations providing ubiquitous LTE coverage. Verizon is deploying small cells in business districts or stadiums where traffic can be highly concentrated.

Alcatel-Lucent says the Alcatel-Lucent 9764 Metro Cell Outdoor and 9768 Metro Radio Outdoor – with lightRadio Wi-Fi as an option – will give subscribers automatic Wi-Fi connections as well as cellular connections to their service provider.

Alcatel-Lucent is supplying Verizon Wireless the lightRadio 9764 Metro Cell Outdoor and the 9768 Metro Radio Outdoor products as well as its 5620 SAM (Service Aware Manager) will provide end-to-end network and service management.

Stadium WiFi, however, has become a contested area. Sports leagues like the NBA, MLB, and NFL want to fill up the seats. More people are now watching the game in the comfort of their own homes with big screen TVs.

Free WiFi (for everyone) is their ticket. It also allows sports leagues to sell value added merchandise. Aruba Networks, Enterasys Networks, Cisco and others are doing it themselves. At least 20 of the NFL’s 31 stadiums now have Wi-Fi, up from six in 2011.

Verizon is also experimenting with LTE Broadcast. At the 2014 Superbowl Verizon used LTE Multicast to send four streaming HD channels to multiple users over their cellular network instead of sending multiple copies of the same content to different users.