HomePage ContentPress ReleasesAlcatel-Lucent enables Telstra to boost mobile broadband coverage at Australia’s prestigious Melbourne Cup horse racing festival
Alcatel-Lucent enables Telstra to boost mobile broadband coverage at Australia’s prestigious Melbourne Cup horse racing festival
Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio™ Metro Cells to provide high-quality mobile data capacity for tens of thousands during the high-profile, four-day racing carnival
Monday, November 5, 2012 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and the Australian mobile operator Telstra are working to provide race-goers at the week-long Melbourne Cup horse racing event in Melbourne fast mobile broadband coverage – thanks to the integration of Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio™ technology into Telstra’s Next G® track-side network.
With as many as 100,000 people expected on peak days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, demand created by 3G-enabled devices will be extremely high as race-goers make use of their smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices to access the Internet, send videos and pictures, and access other data services.
Telstra will augment the network with Alcatel-Lucent’s 3G lightRadio Metro Cells throughout the ‘Birdcage’ hospitality area of the Flemington racecourse in Melbourne. Metro Cells are mini base stations that can easily be deployed in busy public areas to extend coverage and capacity. This deployment of lightRadio Metro Cells will effectively double the available wireless network capacity throughout the Birdcage area, complementing the broader 3G and 4G enabled Next G® network across the racecourse venue.
Max Jennings, Telstra Director of Wireless Network Engineering, said: “With the eyes of the world on the carnival, we want to provide racegoers with the same level of connectivity and access to stats, data and video that viewers can get at home watching the event on television. With Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio, we aim to provide customers with a truly integrated mobile broadband and racing experience.”
Sean O’Halloran, President and Managing Director Alcatel-Lucent Australia said: “Ensuring optimum coverage and customer experience in busy locations is a high priority for many service providers. Our innovative, high-capacity, low-power lightRadio Metro Cells give us a unique ability to augment coverage for Telstra in heavily-utilised, high-traffic areas without having to build intrusive infrastructure.”
Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio technology can support the full range of wireless technologies, including 3G HSPA and 4G LTE standards. This provides mobile operators with the capability to grow their network capacity to meet exploding demand for data services with higher-speeds and in a smaller physical space. lightRadio Metro Cells also addresses many other operator challenges, including reducing power consumption for a greener footprint and providing a deployment solution that helps operators bridge the digital divide for people without Internet access.
About Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Metro Cell pilot for Telstra
Alcatel-Lucent will provide Telstra with its 9764 lightRadio W-CDMA Metro Cell Outdoor small cells in the 2100 MHz band, mounted on light poles throughout the Birdcage hospitality area. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide its leading professional services expertise to assist Telstra’s network engineering team to deploy and optimize coverage across the pilot network. Visit our website to find out more about Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells.
Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio Metro Cell Express solution combines Alcatel-Lucent’s small cells and professional services expertise to offer operators a Build-Operate-transfer approach to optimize metro cell deployments in terms of capacity and coverage.
About Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU)
The long-trusted partner of service providers, enterprises and governments around the world, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading innovator in the field of networking and communications technology, products and services. The company is home to Bell Labs, one of the world’s foremost research centers, responsible for breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Alcatel-Lucent was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 2012 Top 50 list of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” for breakthroughs such as lightRadio™, which cuts power consumption and operating costs on wireless networks while delivering lightning fast Internet access. Through such innovations, Alcatel-Lucent is making communications more sustainable, more affordable and more accessible as we pursue our mission – Realizing the Potential of a Connected World.
With operations in more than 130 countries and one of the most experienced global services organizations in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach. The Company achieved revenues of Euro 15.3 billion in 2011 and is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.
