Time to rejoice: Ericsson to focus on improving indoor coverage performance of mobile networks

At a time when close to 90 percent of the mobile network traffic is generated from inside our homes, improving the performance of indoor coverage is an absolute necessity. Indoor coverage becomes all the more sacrosanct in a country like India, where call-drops make up a prominent chunk of user complaints.

Keeping this in mind, Swedish telecom company Ericsson, in its flagship event ‘Ericsson Connect’ here in Delhi released its next software, Ericsson Networks Software 16A, comprising a new suite of LTE software upgrades specifically targeting the indoor space.

The software is aimed to provide better connections for consumers by upto 30% faster downlink data speeds from the existing 450 megabytes per second to an expected 600 megabytes per second. The software also boosts uplink speeds by upto 200 percent.

“Uplink speeds become very important in today’s age of selfies and vines. People are constantly uploading images, videos and snapchats from the comfort of their home. Thus, boosting uplink speeds plays an integral part in the process of improving indoor coverage,” explained Arun Bansal, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Radio, Ericsson.

Indoor app coverage has also become sacrosanct now, more than ever due to the major shift in connectivity from the laptop era to the mobile era- where we connect with our friends, family and colleagues through multiple devices and where majority of business transactions are made over the cellular network.

The software also supports greater energy efficiency of small cells, which again holds prominence in a country like India, which is most often than not starved of electricity.

The company is also working with real estate players and property managers to lay the foundation of the process of improving indoor coverage.

“We’ll be involved right from the phase of construction and approach operators who can choose their level of involvement. For operators who wish to deploy and manage indoor networks themselves, Ericsson will offer easy-to-deploy hardware and installation tools,” stated Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson.