Uruguay's ANTEL is First LTE Operator in South America

Uruguay's Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (ANTEL) is the first operator in South America to launch a commercial LTE service. The Antel "Internet Vera" LTE service is initially available in Punta del Este and will be extended to Montevideo and other areas of the country during 2012.

Antel has teamed with Alcatel-Lucent for an end-to-end LTE solution, including LTE base stations (eNodeBs), the IP wireless Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Operations and Maintenance services. Antel will also be leveraging Alcatel-Lucent's IP portfolio of products for backhaul of the mobile traffic.

"This deployment represents a significant milestone for the introduction of the most advanced mobile services in Uruguay and in South America overall. As mobile phone penetration continues to experience very high growth in the region, the delivery of a 4G network will allow Antel to capitalize on this growth by providing their subscribers with a new breed of experiences and capabilities," said Gabriel Costa, leader of Alcatel-Lucent activities in Uruguay.

Alcatel-Lucent noted that it now has 18 LTE customers, including two of the world's largest service providers for commercial deployments. It is also involved in over 70 trials worldwide. http://www.alcatel-lucent.com http://www.antel.com.uy