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| It's getting harder to keep track of all these femtocell launches |
| Vodafone launches femtocells in Italy, Hungary and Australia Vodafone Italy has launched the Vodafone Booster in both 4-user ($240) and 8-user ($780) versions for residential and business customers respectively. These look like the same Alcatel-Lucent devices launched by Vodafone New Zealand . Meanwhile, Vodafone Hungary has launched its Mini Bázis femtocells (mini base stations), which look exactly like the Italian versions but at cheaper prices ($157 and $610 for residential and business variants). Down under, Optus' femtocell launch continues to be hotly debated . Vodafone Australia has responded by going public with its Vodafone Expand offering. Just like in Italy and Hungary, there are two femtocells available. However, both versions appear to be targeted at business customers, and the devices are built by Huawei rather than Alcatel-Lucent. Hand-in from the macro network is not supported, but handover between Large Expanders is available. The femtocells operate in open access mode, and Optus warns its customers that they will need to "pay for all associated fixed broadband data usage, whether incurred by your employees or not". CEO Nigel Dews told ZDNet Australia that the company had opted for a quiet launch to ensure that it got the technology right. MegaFon launches femtocells in Moscow Russian operator MegaFon has announced that it will install its 'Minicells' (femtocells supplied by Alcatel-Lucent) free of charge in Moscow for residential and business customers who experience "weak in-building mobile signal". But wait a minute; didn't Megafon announce a femtocell contract with NEC back in February? David Chambers' Think Femtocell blog provides the explanation : MegaFon has selected three vendors to deploy live femtocell systems in different regions "with a view to full understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each". Orange begins marketing its Couverture Site Confort After toying with Ubiquisys enterprise femtocells for some time, Orange France is finally advertising the Couverture Site Confort service on its website. Ubiquisys' Keith Day comments that although the service is "low-key", it is nonetheless significant given that France Telecom is one of the world's leading operator groups. Reinforcing this view, at a press conference held on May 12 in Bucharest, Orange Romania announced its 'Extra Signal' femtocell (click the link and scroll down for a video). The system overview picture is the same as the one on the Orange France website, but the femtocell itself looks different – possibly a Huawei box rather than a Ubiquisys one? More operator news AT&T CTO John Donovan says his company is spending big on its 3G MicroCells (ie femtocells ). At the VentureBeat Mobile Summit, Donovan said "The amount of capital that we're putting into [femtocells] is more than any other carrier as far as I'm aware". But he also said that femtocells are not a cure-all solution for network ills. DeadZones reports that AT&T now has " 350,000 3G MicroCells on their network compared to 256,000 cell phone towers ". AT&T also announced its Remote Mobility Zone designed to restore mobile service after natural disasters. The 2G picocell-based system handles up to 14 simultaneous calls within a half-mile radius, and uses a satellite connection for backhaul. MoldTelecom will offer its Unite femtocell for free to customers who spend more than 150 Moldovan Leu ($13) on mobile services each month. Korea's SK Telecom is planning for early development of LTE femtocells to enhance underground and indoor coverage. And finally, according to Twitter , O2 UK will soon expand its staff-only Indoor Coverage Trial to the public. Here's a photo of the femtocell box . In other news… Femtocells are growing up Femtocells feature in The Independent (This is the paper that ludicrously blamed bee colony collapse on mobile phones .) Small cell hard sell Broadcasters pin hopes on femtocells David Chambers gives his thoughts on femtocell ODMs Frost & Sullivan publishes World Femtocell and Picocell Market report Gartner says Argela femtocells are "cool" Motorola and BelAir collaborate on metro femto RadiSys buys CCPU AirWalk highlights its small cell solutions Ubiquisys partners with TI for dual mode 3G/LTE small cells Mom Central reviews the AT&T 3G MicroCell Vodafone UK offers Sure Signal femtocell for £20 (limited time only) Ofcom says 4G won't solve data issues … ZDNet says Wi-Fi & femtocells will . Tagged: AT&T 3G Microcell , Femtocell , femtocells , Megafon , Moldtelecom Unite , O2 UK , Orange Couverture Site Confort , Orange Romania Extra Signal , picocell , picocells , SKT , Vodafone Booster , Vodafone Expand , Vodafone Mini Bázis |
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