Sprint Nextel unveils femtocell for consumers: Carrier plans nationwide availability by next year

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced it has begun selling a compact, consumer-targeted femtocell base station that will work with any Sprint Nextel CDMA phone, an effort designed to allow customers to improve their own in-home wireless coverage. The Sprint Airave, which is manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., is now available for purchase in select areas of Denver and Indianapolis.
Femtocells-small, stand-alone units that can be deployed inside buildings and homes-have gained the interest of carriers as a means to increase network coverage. However, such products also carry a number of business complications, including the prospect of cutting into carrier revenues.
The new Sprint Airave will allow Sprint Nextel customers to use their mobile phone to make voice calls near the femtocell, and route the conversation through their broadband Internet connection. The offering will also allow users to roam onto the carrier’s wide area cellular network when outside of the device’s coverage. Sprint Nextel is selling the Airave for $50 with a monthly price tag of $15 per individual or $30 for a family plan.
While femtocells offer a plug-and-play, in-building coverage solution that would self-register and self-optimize on the carrier network, there are still some issues to be ironed out.
Analysts and industry watchers aren’t convinced subscribers will purchase such a device in droves, particularly since they already pay monthly service fees for service that’s supposed to follow with them wherever they go. Additionally, operators could run into problems if thousands of femtocells are operating in a concentrated area; potentially interfering with other cell sites.
Nonetheless, such moves appear to be gaining steam at carriers.
Earlier this year T-Mobile USA Inc. rolled out a similar offering. However, T-Mobile USA’s service relies on a Wi-Fi connection and a dual-mode, Wi-Fi/GSM handset.
“With the Airave, Sprint is delivering an enhanced in-home coverage solution that’s simple to access, low in cost and compatible with any Sprint phone,” said Ajit Bhatia, director of product management for the carrier. “In addition, with unlimited in-home wireless calling, the Airave makes it even more convenient for customers to rely on their Sprint phones at home.”
Sprint Nextel said it plans to make the Airave available to customers throughout the Denver and Indianapolis markets later this year, and plans to offer the service and device nationwide next year.