Now British businesses can get a taste of new-fangled, in-building small cell coverage.

January 31, 2014

2 Min Read
Vodafone Launches Small Cell Service in UK

Having already deployed SpiderCloud's enterprise small cells in the Netherlands, Vodafone is now installing them in the UK to support an enhanced, in-building mobile coverage service called Sure Signal Premium. (See Vodafone UK Launches Sure Signal Premium and Vodafone Deploys SpiderCloud's Small Cells.)

The 3G service, based on technology developed for Vodafone UK by partners SpiderCloud Wireless and NEC Europe , is targeted at businesses with more than 320 staff and more than 3,200 square meters of floor space. Vodafone says the service can be installed "as quickly as WiFi," and that a 4G service will be available this summer. (See SpiderCloud Eyes LTE Enterprise Small Cells in 2014.)

The demand from businesses for quality in-building coverage is growing as more companies rely on mobile/wireless services to provide in-building and nomadic connectivity to their staff: In addition, the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend creates a growing need for better in-building coverage to enable employees to work to their optimum levels and (dare we even suggest it!) boost staff morale.

And the potential pay-off for service providers investing in such infrastructure could be manyfold: Not only do they immediately attract network usage from the employees of their enterprise customers, but anecdotal evidence suggests those employees churn to the small cell service provider to gain better at-work connectivity for their own devices.

For SpiderCloud in particular, this is another feather in its cap in what is an increasingly competitive market for enterprise small cells, with rivals such as Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ip.access Ltd. , among others, all fighting to be deployed inside businesses, shopping malls, airports, and other prime locations. (See Ericsson Expects Smooth Sailing for Radio Dot, Who's Moving & Shaking in Small Cells?, Ericsson Boasts Small Cell Breakthrough, and SpiderCloud: Cisco 'Naïve' on Small Cells.)

— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

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