Ericsson launches GSM home Cell Site

[jones]

Ericsson launches world's smallest GSM radio base station for home coverage

Ericsson today launches its Femto Cell Solution. Consumers using GSM and WCDMA phones will now be able to use their mobile phones at home, with the price advantages offered by fixed-line and internet phones.

Ericsson's Femto Cell Solution includes a home access point that is, in itself, the world's smallest GSM radio base station. The home access point is compatible with GSM and WCDMA phones and also includes WiFi and ADSL.
Ericsson's Femto Cell Solution enables the operator to offer a "home-area" tariff to all the people living in a household.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: "This is a major technological breakthrough. Ericsson's Femto Cell Solution enables mobile operators to compete on the fixed access market, offering price-competitive, innovative and secure services to their customers."

The Femto Cell Solution allows the operator to strengthen its relationship with subscribers and provides an incentive for all users in that household to have the same mobile operator, in order to get the home-area tariff and dedicated services.

Femto Cell's home access point is connected, plug-and-play, to any existing IP backhaul network, and the end user's mobile phone will switch to the indoor radio base station automatically as he or she walks through the door.Ericsson's Femto Cell Solution will be available through selected operators, starting in mid-2007.

Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.


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[Fire14]

Here is another article on this with some additional info.


Ericsson unveils femtocell

L.M. Ericsson, the world’s largest network-equipment provider, announced the launch of the company’s femtocell product, news that could stand as a major event in the evolution of the wireless industry by giving cellular carriers the ability to compete directly with wireline carriers.

"This is a major technological breakthrough,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, an Ericsson vice president. “Ericsson's femtocell solution enables mobile operators to compete on the fixed-access market, offering price-competitive, innovative and secure services to their customers."

Ericsson said its femtocell product supports GSM and W-CDMA cellphones as well as Wi-Fi and ADSL connections. The product is essentially a miniature base station that allows users to run their cellphone conversations through a wired connection in their home.

Ericsson explained that its femtocell product, which it will sell to wireless carriers, will allow operators to strengthen their relationships with subscribers, and that it also provides an incentive for all users in a household to have the same mobile operator in order to get “home-area” prices.

Ericsson said its femtocell product will be available through select carriers starting in the middle of this year.

Ericsson’s entrance into the femtocell market, which until now has been populated by much smaller players, could bring the issue of femtocells to the fore. Ericsson’s support for the femtocell market could also push more operators to sell the devices to end users.

However, femtocells bring up a number of issues for carriers planning to sell the devices.

First up, carriers will have to sit down with DSL and cable providers to determine whether there will be charges assessed for using their connections to access a cellular network. After all, these connections effectively help cellular carriers offload traffic from their network, but DSL and cable providers are not likely to take the traffic for free.

Second, carriers have to figure out how to charge users for accessing their network via femtocell base stations. Customers will be billed for airtime.

Third, there will be regulatory hurdles since femtocell base stations operate in licensed spectrum. The potential for interference among femtocell base stations hasn’t been determined and likely won’t be until products come out of labs and get put to use in field trials. Once interference levels are exposed, technology developers will probably tweak the base stations to reduce interference to the lowest points possible, but regulations will probably become part of the ecosystem as carriers get closer to offering femtocell base stations.

http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...9018/1014/FREE