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Report: AT&T to offer $100 femtocells
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According to a report from ThinkPanmure, AT&T has inked a $500 million deal with ip.access for 7 million femtocells, which it plans to sell to its subscribers for about $100. While AT&T would not comment directly on the reports, a spokesperson did note that the carrier plans to conduct a femtocell trial later this year. Femtocells are similar to WiFi routers in that they make use of a users high speed data connection at home, but differ in that they make use of carrier's licensed spectrum. Sprint has already launched a femtocell from Samsung that it calls the Airave. The unit costs about $50 and requires a monthly fee. The ThinkPanmure report predicts that GSM carriers will rollout femtocells next year.
For more on the report:
- read this RCR article
Related Articles:
Sprint launches femtocell service in two markets
T-Mobile plans femtocell trials in Europe
Femtocells face their tipping point
Comments
Posted by Robert Duncan | November 22, 2008 - 12:09am
Femtocells already make great sense in residences, and I suspect will be even more successful in-building and in dense environments, where they wil become cost-effective vs. macrocells and microcells. However, they face some significant hurdles to allow them to integrate with the Operator's existing radion network. ip.access appears to have an excellent graps of these problems and is delivering increasingly automated solutions that work. For more analysis on the hurdles that Femtocells face, and the prospects for success (including a Femto vs. Macro model that you can play with), please visit imcellular.wordpress.com/tag/femtocell/
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