20th June 2007

3G Home Femtocells Will Deliver Better Value For Mobile Data Users and Drive Fixed Mobile Substitution Predicts Leading Developer ip.access

CAMBRIDGE, UK – June 20, 2007 – The use of low power “femtocells” in the home is set to drive the use of 3G voice and high-speed data services by mobile phone users and deliver increased fixed-mobile substitution (FMS) for operators, according to a new whitepaper published by a leading developer of femtocells.

ip.access, a technology innovator and pioneer in cellular-over-IP, has just released a key whitepaper –“The Case for Femtocells” – which explores the operator business case and consumer propositions for deploying femtocell technology in the home, examining the benefits from a user experience perspective and offering detailed cost analyses of the potential savings for mobile network operators.

Femtocells are tiny, low power 3G radio systems that plug into a residential broadband connection to provide a mobile signal directly in the home. A home femtocell delivers its strong signal and fast data rates at very low cost, since the traffic is backhauled to the mobile operator’s core network over the existing home broadband link. These cost savings can be passed on to customers in the form of highly attractive “femtozone” tariffs, which extend operators’ existing “homezone” tariff propositions by delivering improved coverage indoors, reduced service delivery costs, and seamless handover to the macro network.   These targeted femtozone tariffs will make the mobile phone competitive not only with fixed line services, but also with television and PCs for home entertainment and information services – ultimately enabling new business models based on revenue share with web and media partners.   A recent McKinsey report highlighted that 35 per cent of mobile TV is watched in the home [1].

The whitepaper’s author, Dr Andy Tiller, VP Marketing for ip.access, believes that femtocells offer a strong proposition to both consumers and operators as a solution to 3G coverage and capacity issues in the home:  “Because femtocells gives a faster data speed and better quality of service, they will encourage greater use of data services inside (and outside) the home. This is probably the most important strategic reason for a mobile operator to deploy femtocells in its network, rather than relying on the macro network alone.”

The whitepaper is now available for download from the ip.access website:
http://www.ipaccess.com/femtocells/business_case.php

1. McKinsey; “The Revolution of the Third Screen”, October 2006.

For more information about ip.access’ femtocell solutions, please visit:
http://www.ipaccess.com/femtocells/femtocells.php

About ip.access

Based in Cambridge, UK, ip.access ltd (www.ipaccess.com) is a leading manufacturer of cost-effective picocell and femtocell infrastructure solutions for GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3G. These solutions bring IP and cellular technologies together to drive down costs and increase coverage and capacity of mobile networks.

ABI Research ranks ip.access as the world’s number 1 picocell vendor; its nanoGSM® and nano3G™ picocell solutions provide 2G and 3G coverage and capacity for offices, shops and (using satellite backhaul) passenger aircraft, ships and remote rural areas. nanoGSM is the world’s most deployed picocell, with live installations in more than 50 networks around the world and growing.

ip.access is also the company behind the multi-award winning Oyster 3G™ femtocell technology, which dramatically improves the user experience for 3G services at home. Oyster 3G is the core femtocell technology in AT&T’s 3G MicroCell.

ip.access counts Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild Gestion, Intel Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, ADC, Cisco, Qualcomm and Motorola Ventures among its shareholders.

Distributed on behalf of ip.access by NeonDrum
Nicky Davis
Tel:             +44 7747017654       
nicky@neondrum.com
http://www.neondrum.com