ASIA Japan : Motorola announced that Japanese telecoms provider SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. has selected Motorola's Horizon 3G-i residential solution for its femto cellular media demonstration.

UMTS/HSxPA Femto node-Bs are small form-factor cellular base stations that can be used to provide indoor coverage for 3G UMTS/HSxPA users. Besides better coverage, Motorola's advanced Horizon 3G-i residential solution will address the demand for fixed mobile convergence (FMC) that gives users a seamless mobility experience when moving between home and outdoor environments while using a single mobile handset.

The demonstration will show how the SOFTBANK-Motorola femto-cell solution can be very easily deployed in homes by connecting the Motorola Horizon 3G-i residential solution to an existing DSL, cable or fiber broadband connection. The IP-based link routes traffic back to the core telecommunications network and provides the added advantage of offloading capacity from the legacy circuit based network.

Shinji Ogura, president, Motorola Japan, said that using a single Horizon 3G-i residential solution, service providers like SOFTBANK will be able to expedite the migration to the future flat architecture network that could eventually integrate multiple connectivity systems including DSL, WiFi and 3G UMTS/HSxPA, which will enable SOFTBANK to offer "one stop shopping" to its customers of all the telecoms services it provides creating a significant synergy effect of its entire services portfolio.

"With this level of service flexibility, users will not need to worry about replacing their existing mobile with a dual mode mobile device that supports WiFi and other technologies to enjoy seamless mobility." said Shinji Ogura.

Tetsuo Kamoshita, senior manager of Carrier Business Operations and SOFTBANK account manager, Motorola Japan said that the service integration provided by Motorola's Horizon 3G-i residential flat architecture could potentially help SOFTBANK reduce the network cost and distribute the traffic load to the IP network. "Femto-cell deployments will also allow SOFTBANK to explore new revenue opportunities by offering customized home-zone tariffs and dedicated value-added services tailored to individual need of each consumer," said Tetsuo Kamoshita.

Motorola's Horizon 3G-i residential solution is a new IP-based radio platform designed to be compatible with future access network evolution and is as a result of the company's continued development and commitment to UMTS/HSxPA technology.

The proof-of-concept demonstration is part of joint developments by Motorola and SOFTBANK to lead the industry trend in the deployment home-based cellular stations. In July last year, Motorola and SOFTBANK partnered to launch a mobile WiMAX (IEEE802.16e-2005) trial network in Tokyo.