Ubiquisys Launches Outdoor Femtocell for Rural Areas
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, November 30, 2009 · 
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Ubiquisys has introduced a wide-area femtocell solution, designed to serve as a mini outdoor base station that supports a small number of users, but over a greater range than indoor femtocells.
Similar to its femtocell predecessors, the wide-area solution is not a mini version of a macro cellular platform, but rather a subsidiary to the macro network, which monitors network conditions and reconfigures itself to prevent interference with the prevailing network or neighboring femtocells. And like an indoor femtocell, it can be hooked up to a broadband connection, enabling it to backhaul cellular traffic via broadband to the operator’s core network.
According to the Ubiquisys, the wide-area solution is a 20-30 watt device, which can deliver a clear voice signal up to 1.5 km, and HSPA capacity within 700 m. But the platform can only support 16 simultaneous calls. As such, Ubiquisys is positioning this solution as ideal for rural areas with poor cellular coverage.
In the future, Ubiquisys foresees this solution being of use in urban areas, as a means to expand capacity in highly trafficked areas. In fact, as spectrum becomes a scarce commodity, many experts believe that femtocells can help cellular providers fill in coverage holes, and offload traffic, shifting the capacity burden to the broadband pipe.
Telephony Online has more.
Read Ubiquisys’ release.
Learn more about femtocells: Read NTCA’s femtocell ePapers.
Attend the 2010 Wireless Symposium, where the Femto Forum will moderate a panel of experts as they discuss “Femtocell, Picocells and Smart Repeaters: Implications for IOCs.”
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