LIVE FROM LTE WORLD SUMMIT 2015: Vodafone Netherlands declared itself a big proponent of small cells, promising it will “definitely” expand its network due to the technology’s ability to deliver “the best customer experience, particularly in crowded places where the customer wants to have the best possible network experience”.

Matthias Sauder, chief network officer for the company, said it has “built hundreds of small cells in the Netherlands, and we are still expanding. I think we have one of the largest small cell deployments built in Europe”.

Speaking here in Amsterdam today, Sauder said that with regard to small cell rollouts, “it’s still the simple things that are the most difficult.”

“Getting the right connectivity, getting power 24/7, and developing solutions particularly in the backhaul area together with our vendors to make sure we can connect the small cells everywhere,” he continued.

The company has worked to deploy small cells in busy areas in order to create “outdoor performance zones”. Particularly in Amsterdam, it has partnered with street advertising company JC Decaux, while in other cities it has worked with municipal authorities.

“It’s commercial, it’s working, and it delivers a great customer experience,” he said.

Vodafone Netherlands is also working on putting in-building solutions in place, focusing on big companies. “And there, we have deployed in just the last year 250 large indoor solutions for corporates,” the executive said.

For this market, it is using “modern, innovative technologies” from companies including SpiderCloud and Ericsson (it was the first operator to commercially deploy Ericsson’s Radio Dot systems), and “we are getting quite nice feedback from our customers”.