AT&T, Verizon move ahead with femtocells

AT&T and Verizon this week announced plans to move ahead with femtocells. AT&T has indicated it will begin trialing femtocells later this year and into 2009. Verizon Wireless said it may introduce its first femtocell product next year.

"As the nation's leading provider of both wireless and broadband, it makes sense that we would examine the potential benefits of femtocells for our customers," an AT&T spokeswoman told Unstrung via email. "We're currently doing testing in our labs and a trial is planned for later this year."

A Samsung-made "Ubicell" femtocell branded by Verizon is now at the FCC awaiting approval. Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone had hinted earlier in the spring that Verizon may consider a femtocell deployment as an option.

 "We are looking at femtocell technology and will soon be performing user tests," a company spokesman said. "We could well have a product on the market early next year, but we have made no public announcements about that yet."

Sprint Nextel already offers femtocells on a nationwide basis.

For more:
- read Unstrung [1]
- check out FierceWireless [2]

Related articles:
Sprint launches femtocell [3] service in two markets
Femtocells [4] face their tipping point