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Femtocell flurry
(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Industry backing for femtocell technology is gathering pace and mobile operators are finally publicly showing some interest in the various home base station solutions already available. The first industry body dedicated to driving the spread of femtocells was launched on Monday, just a day before vendor Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled its first femtocell offer. And Japan's Softbank raised hopes of a commercial femtocell deployment in the near future when it included the technology in a Tokyo media event this week. On Tuesday Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled its first femtocell product, the 3G Femto Home Access Solution, which it predicts will be in commercial deployment by the third quarter of 2008, following trials earlier in the year. Femtocell devices are effectively mini base stations that boost mobile network coverage and speed within the home. Mobile operators are starting to consider the technology as a way of tackling the poor indoor coverage provided by 3G networks, but none have yet taken the plunge and launched the technology. According to Nokia Siemens Networks, its femtocell solution will enable mobile operators to offer "attractive services and tariffs" to end-users within the home, and will encourage 3G service usage. The vendor noted that its Femto Gateway product will connect to the operator's core network via a standard interface and will allow femto CPE equipment from multiple vendors to be connected to it. "Nokia Siemens Networks will cooperate with Femto CPE vendors to ensure interoperability of their equipment to the Nokia Siemens Networks interface," the company said. However, Nokia Siemens Networks is not among the founder members of the Femto Forum, an industry body dedicated to promoting the uptake of femtocell technology through open standards. "The time was right for this kind of initiative," Femto Forum chairman Simon Saunders told Total Telecom ahead of the group's official launch on Monday. Founder members of the Femto Forum are Airvana, ip.access, Netgear, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys, although Saunders insisted that there are 60-plus organisations interested in membership. These include a large number of major mobile players and some regional operators in North America, South East Asia, Europe and beyond. "It's a real who's who of the major telecoms companies," he said. "If the industry is fragmented, it won't be successful for anybody," added Will Franks, founder and CTO of femtocell vendor Ubiquisys. Franks expects to see the commercial launch of femtocells in the second quarter of next year in Europe and possibly Asia. However this will very much depend on the participation of the mobile operators, who to date have played their cards very close to their chests. But Femto Forum member ip.access took a step in the right direction on Monday when it revealed that it has participated in a proof of concept with Japanese mobile operator Softbank. The operator included ip.access' Oyster 3G femtocell, which was formally launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February, in a Tokyo media event designed to showcase technology. A similar product from Motorola, the Horizon 3G-i residential femtocell solution, was also present at the proof of concept event.
Copyright 2007 Terrapinn Ltd
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