The Femto Forum and WiMAX Forum announced this week they plan to collaborate on the development of WiMAX Femtocell Access Point (WFAP) specifications. It will provide standardized end-to-end QoS, provisioning, network entry and authentication, power optimization and mobility management.
Femto Forum believes femtocells will dramatically increase coverage indoors and allow for mobility and roaming across wide area networks. WiMAX operators, like their LTE counterparts, need some way of aggregating tiny cell sites and improve the quality of intra-cell links.
“Femtocells will provide a powerful new tool for WiMAX operators. By significantly increasing the number of cells in a wireless network using femtocells, operators can deliver a dramatically better service than using macro networks alone,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum in a release.
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum. They generally connect standard mobile devices, like cell phones, to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections. Since access point base-stations operate in licensed spectrum, however, the macro cell and femtocell can create interference with the broader network.
Cisco, which recently joined the WiMAX Forum, is expected to be a player in consumer gear through their Linksys line of WiFi hotspots. Creating a Femtocell version, may not be stretch. Same deal with Motorola. Cable subscribers could use a WiMAX handset for voice connectivity in the home.
