Sprint will be the first operator to launch a 3G femtocell in the United States, reports Unstrung.
“Just like Sprint was the first with 2G, we’ll definitely be the first in the 3G space as well,” Mathew Oommen, VP of device and technology development, tells Unstrung. “We’re not talking about trials; we’re talking about full commercial service.”
AT&T also plans to deploy its standalone 3G femtocell nationwide by the end of this year. (See AT&T on Track for Femto Launch).
Meanwhile, Vodafone UK launches Europe’s first 3G femto service this week, while Singapore’s StarHub launching its Home Zone service in November last year, making it the first UMTS femto service. StarHub’s HSDPA femtocell base station from Huawei can support speed up to 7.2 Mbps.
Femtocells allow mobile operators to extend their cellular coverage in the home and office environment. Like a WiFi access point, they plug into DSL or cable modems but connect via 3G licensed frequencies rather than WiFi.
AT&T’s first femto product is said to be supplied by Cisco, which uses a femto module from ip.access, which uses picoChip’s femto chipset. But there is no official word on AT&T’s femto supplier. For AT&T, the motivation for pursuing femtocells is the potential for revenues from new services, reduced churn, and off-loading data traffic onto femtocells (through DSL).
The Femto Forum and WiMAX Forum are also co-operating to advance WiMAX femtocells.
