“AT&T Inc. is on track for a national femtocell launch by the end of this year, according to a senior executive speaking at a conference in London Tuesday,” Michelle Donegan reports for Unstrung. “The revelation of what will be the first UMTS femto launch in the U.S. follows the news today that Vodafone UK will launch Europe’s first 3G femto service next week.”
“Now, it seems, it won’t be long before the U.S. gets a 3G femto service if all goes to plan at AT&T, as the operator prepares to expand its trial of the tiny home base stations,” Donegan reports.
“According to AT&T’s executive director for radio access network delivery, Gordon Mansfield, who was speaking at the Femtocells World Summit in London today, about 200 users are testing the femto service in targeted customer trials,” Donegan reports. “In the coming weeks, he added, ‘we will expand that into a marketing trial of the AT&T-branded 3G Microcell, which will be open to customers through our AT&T stores… in a handful of cities. We’re on track for a full national launch by the end of 2009.'”
“Mansfield confirmed to Unstrung that AT&T will launch with a standalone 3G femtocell, (as opposed to a femtocell that’s integrated into a residential gateway),” Donegan reports. “It is understood that AT&T’s first femto product — the ‘3G Microcell’ — will be supplied by Cisco Systems Inc.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
