Sweden's Tele2 goes for pico deployment; as 3G home booster is unveiled

Sweden's low-profile operator, Tele2, has chosen picocell technology to provide improved indoor 2G voice coverage for its enterprise subscribers. The company has awarded UK-based ip.access the contact to supply its NanoBTS picocell units to boost 2G voice capacity and in-building penetration across Tele2's European subsidiaries.

Commenting on the agreement, Jamie Cave, EMEA VP of ip.access, said that the deal with the operator demonstrated the ongoing demand for its 2G picocell technology, "and underlined ip.access as a market leader and innovator of cellular-over-IP solutions for mobile operators."

While Tele2 made no comment, it would appear that its enterprise voice subscribers provide the majority of its revenue, and that it was increasingly necessary for the company to provide a high quality service. ‘GSM picocells support voice on both GSM and 3G handsets, and in many enterprises there is a mixture of both', was the only reference to its use of picocells.

Separately, US-based Wi-Ex has announced two new 3G signal boosters targeted for use by operators and consumers. The two units are designed to work on different frequency bands, with the zBoost operating within the 1800MHz and 900MHz frequency bands and said to increase indoor coverage up to 200 metres away. The zBoost-One UMTS device is aimed specifically at the 2100MHz band.

For more on this story:
Telegeography
and 3G

Related stories:
366,000 Picocells to be deployed by 2013
Orange to enable FMC picocell service
Picocells and femtocells to be part of initial LTE architecture
3G picocell to be trialled by midyear