A new super femtocell built on technology being introduced by picoChip could have wide-ranging implications for cable's nascent mobile wireless business. The British chipmaker is introducing the PC333 system-on-a-chip (SoC) that it says will serve as the foundation for a super femto that can cover a two kilometer radius, support 32 simultaneous voice and data users and do 400 connected smartphones.
The new chip is the foundation for "the public access femtocell. It's a higher spec than most picocells and is creeping into the microcell category," Rupert Baines, picoChip's marketing vice president told FierceCable. "Picocells have always been a nice idea but they've never really worked because they were too expensive, too painful, too much hassle. This makes picocells and microcells very cost effective."
The device could be a big help as cable begins to deploy mobile wireless services, said Baines.
"You have people like Cox and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) who are very aggressive in their wireless plans and this does tie in very nicely to a strand-mount cable deployment," he said.
For more:
- see this news release
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