Nokia Siemens claims to have deployed the first commercial small cell network using advanced wireless services (AWS) spectrum.
The infrastructure vendor supplied its 3GPP release 9-compliant femtocell set up to US carrier Mosaic Telecom, which covers rural areas in the state of Wisconsin. NSN claims the solution is the first real-world deployment of femtocells using AWS spectrum, which covers the 1710-MHz to 1755-MHz and 2110-MHz to 2155-MHz bands.
Mosaic chief Rick Vergin says using femtocells “will greatly reduce our capital and operating expenditures due to the reduced load on our macro network.” The approach is also well suited to the operator’s rural footprint, Vergin notes.
The AWS femtocell agreement is the second between Mosaic and NSN, following a contract to replace the operator’s WiMax infrastructure with LTE equipment in 2011.