MegaFon, a Russian mobile operator, has selected NEC Corp.’s femtocell solution to enhance the indoor mobile experience of its residential and enterprise customers in the Volga, Ural and Far-East regions of Russia. The NEC femtocell solution was successfully tested and trialed with MegaFon subscribers at the North-West branch of MegaFon in Saint-Petersburg in 2010, and as a result the company plans to launch the high-speed, high-quality indoor mobile service to its residential and enterprise customers later this year.

An NEC Femtocell is a small wireless cellular base station similar in size and appearance to a broadband router that connects over broadband to a mobile operator’s core network. It provides dedicated mobile coverage and capacity for full personal use, delivering excellent experience and increased customer loyalty.

NEC is providing MegaFon an end-to-end femtocell solution that includes NEC Femtocells, and femtocell gateway systems that connect to the operator’s existing core systems. Customers can install the NEC Femtocell with no intervention from MegaFon due to its ‘plug and play’ capability.

“NEC’s femtocell solution will allow MegaFon to differentiate by providing their customers with premium mobile services,” said Vladimir Lobanov, head of the project management division of CJSC NEC Neva Communications Systems. “Our femtocell solution will ensure that their customers always have the five-bar coverage indoors that they expect and dedicated capacity to run data-intensive applications on their smartphones and tablets.”