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Thursday, 21 January 2010 |
Vodafone re-launches
UK
femtocell service as pressure group kicks off new awareness campaign…
Vodafone has re-launched and re-branded its
UK
femtocell service. ‘Sure Signal’, formerly ‘Vodafone Access Gateway’, is designed to offer customers better and more reliable 3G coverage indoors, and works with all 3G handsets. Up to 32 people can be registered to use a Vodafone Sure Signal and four people can use it at any one time.
“No other network in the
UK
can ensure a great mobile phone signal in the home, because the Sure Signal is unique to Vodafone,” observes Vodafone
UK
ceo Guy Laurence. “Customers tell us it is life-changing. If they live or work in a basement for example, the only way they may be able to get consistent mobile coverage could be with a Vodafone Sure Signal.”
Recent research by Vodafone in the
UK
apparently highlights the importance of indoor mobile phone coverage. One in five people say that they have missed an important event or occasion because of a lack of signal, while one in 50 would even consider moving house for better indoor coverage.
Also citing statistics that indicate growing public appetite for femtocells – in this case the recent-ish ABI Research finding that more than 50% of US consumers are interested in them – is the technology’s main pressure group, the Femto Forum.
Earlier this month the Forum held its first ever press conference at the giant Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in
Las Vegas. “We’ve made the case for femtocells to the telco community, but with commercial deployments in the
US
, Europe and
Asia
the time is right to reach out to new audiences,” said Femto Forum chairman Professor Simon Saunders. “CES is the first stop of a global road show showcasing the huge opportunities this technology represents not just for carriers, but for consumer electronics players, developers, content providers and of course consumers.”
Other Femto Forum stats of interest:
· there are now a total of 55 operators in the 120-member Femto Forum currently representing over 1.4bn mobile subscribers worldwide across multiple wireless technologies (WiMAX, UMTS and CDMA)
· there are currently nine commercial deployments by major carriers worldwide, with ‘numerous’ advanced trials expected to lead to further deployments later this year
John Williamson |
