NEC has launched its 3G Femtocell solution in India. The low-cost 3G in-building coverage technology will allow Indian mobile operators to offer 3G mobile services to residential and enterprise markets within a few months. Currently, NEC is in the process of trialling its 3G Femtocell solution with an unnamed mobile operator in India.

NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced the launch in India of its ground-breaking 3G Femtocell solution enabling operators to offer high-quality, high-speed 3G mobile services to its enterprise and residential consumers within a few months.

A trial of the NEC Femtocell solution is in progress with a mobile operator in India. NEC has 8 contracts worldwide with mobile operators for femtocell system deployments which make up nearly half a million femtocell devices. In addition, NEC has 16 femtocell system trials in progress or that have been completed with mobile operators around the world.

"NEC is re-writing the conventional 3G deployment norms so that mobile operators can capture the 3G market quickly and cost efficiently at a time when they are under immense cost stress following 3G network roll-outs and high 3G licensing," said Atsushi Kuroda, General Manager, International Sales and Operations Business Unit. "Femtocell promises 3G services with significant CAPEX and OPEX reduction for India's 3G mobile operators who must ensure low network costs after the high cost of 3G licensing, while meeting the needs and expectations of their customers.

The rollout of 3G networks in India will bring new opportunities to mobile operators and to consumers. For example, 3G networks will relieve the congestion in 2G networks which will improve the consumer experience as well as deliver exciting new data-centric applications and services to consumers. However, 3G has inherent challenges such as unreliable indoor coverage even though the majority of mobile traffic (up to 70 per cent) is generated indoors.

The NEC Femtocell solution addresses the challenges of mobile operators to provide high quality 3G "five bar" mobile coverage indoors while providing operators the ability to differentiate their service in terms of quality and innovative applications.

An NEC Femtocell is a small wireless cellular base station similar in size and appearance to a broadband router that connects over broadband or any other backhaul technology to a mobile operator's core network. The NEC Femtocell provides dedicated 3G coverage and capacity for full personal use by consumers delivering excellent experience and increased customer loyalty. The "plug and play" capability allows consumers to install an NEC Femtocell with no intervention from the operator.

"India's mobile operators already face a hyper-competitive market and are under pressure to reduce the CAPEX and OPEX for their new 3G networks. In addition to securing immense cost saving, a 3G network that incorporates an NEC Femtocell solution instead of a traditional network build out will see a virtuous circle of sustainable customer acquisition and retention as NEC Femtocell provides the 3G service mobile phone customers expect," said Koji Oda, Managing Director of NEC India.

NEC is leveraging its global femtocell market leadership, footprint, experience and expertise to help bring 3G mobile operators in India proven and revenue-generating mobile broadband services. It has several commercial contracts in place with the successful deployment of its femtocell solutions by SFR in France, SOFTBANK MOBILE in Japan and Network Norway. This year, NEC is on target to deploy its first 100,000 Femtocell Access Point (FAP) network.
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Informa Telecoms & Media, Mobile Broadband Access at Home, Aug 08

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NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.