Ericsson has scored the first U.S. deployment of its Radio Dot small cell, with Verizon opting to roll it out at its regional headquarters in Detroit, Michigan.
Verizon will use the Dot to improve indoor LTE coverage and support its voice over LTE (VoLTE) service, Advanced Calling, which will enable staff to place HD voice and video calls.
"Our work with Ericsson and this deployment of the Radio Dot System in one of Verizon’s key office locations is another example of how we are leveraging the best technology to densify our 4G LTE network and deliver seamless customer experiences, indoor and out," said Adam Koeppe, vice president of network planning at Verizon, in a statement on Friday.
Ericsson’s disk-shaped device resembles a smoke alarm and incorporates a new antenna design, called a ‘dot’ antenna, hence the name. The cells are connected and powered by Cat 6A LAN cables, which run to an indoor radio unit, which in turn connects to the nearest macro base station.
The first commercial deployment of Ericsson’s Dot came in December 2014, when Vodafone Netherlands announced it had rolled it out at Radboud University in Nijmegen.
"Large buildings and other venues often create coverage challenges. With the Ericsson Radio Dot System, operators can now fill this gap in their networks, providing capacity in challenging indoor environments," said Arun Bansal, SVP and head of Ericsson’s radio uni t.
