Alcatel-Lucent and Telefónica in Germany have announced the deployment of femtocell technology to help boost 3G mobile broadband access and quality for Telefónica customers in Germany.

Alcatel-Lucent’s ‘plug-and-play’ femtocell solution for Telefónica in Germany includes femtocell gateways and modems that can be installed in enterprises and in general, outdoor locations in high density areas.

In particular, with mobile phones increasingly being used by office employees instead of traditional deskbound landlines, the introduction of femtocells in places of work will help Telefónica maintain service quality and connectivity for office workers and those in other indoor environments.

Telefónica is marketing the modems as “Signal Box by O2“. It is about the size of a typical Wi-Fi base station, and gets linked with a cable to any Internet connection and a power supply. The small design and powerful wireless capabilities will help Telefónica in Germany extend their network coverage in areas where buildings’ walls can degrade the quality of a mobile signal, or in areas too far from a traditional macro cell tower.

This agreement builds on the global agreement made in 2012 and will be instrumental in support of the recent external link business offering announced in May 2013.

Juan Carlos Garcia, Vice President Network Engineering Access and Transport at Telefónica in Germany, said: “Quality of service is one of Telefónica Germany’s major strategic goals. Using Alcatel-Lucent’s Femto technology, our business customers have the option of enjoying high-quality 3G services for their voice and data communication. Our Signal Box by O2 increases the indoor quality of service and improves the experience of our customers.”

Luis Martinez Amago, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s EMEA region, said: “ Having high-quality 3G service in places where people spend most of their time, be it home or the workplace and whether their means of access is via a fixed or mobile network, femtocells go a long way in creating high levels of customer satisfaction.”