Europe : Thomson and Nokia Siemens Networks announced their collaboration in developing a pioneering 3G femto cell home access solution.

Femto cells are small cellular access points which provide enhanced coverage specifically in residential environments and enable operators to provide fixed-mobile convergence services and others such as IPTV.

Thus, Thomson’s femto cell-enabled residential gateway coupled with the 3G Femto Home Access network solution from Nokia Siemens Networks – incorporating the new network element, the Femto Gateway, launched earlier this week – will allow operators to seamlessly deliver compelling 3G multimedia services such as music downloads and video available in the home on any WCDMA 3G handset, with unrivalled quality of service, network security and manageability.

"Our collaboration with Nokia Siemens Networks brings together two of the strongest players in their respective fields to enable operators realize the full potential of fixed-mobile convergence”, said Bruno Fabre, Vice President of Thomson’s Premises Systems Business Unit. “Committed to providing our clients with the latest innovations, we are very excited by the possibilities that femto cell technology offers us to further enhance our solutions portfolio for operators who wish to deploy new services”, he continues.

“The novel approach enabled by our Femto Home Access Solution combined with Thomson’s market-leading DSL technology will greatly benefit operators who seek to launch new and innovative services and will open up new markets for both companies”, says Timo Hyppölä, heading Indoor Solutions Product Line in Nokia Siemens Networks. “We are driving a network solution with standard and open interfaces which will boost the femto cell ecosystem. Thomson is expanding the scope of its role as a leading supplier of CPE to operators in incorporating femto technology in its residential gateway portfolio, which is a great delight for us,” he continues.

Trials of the 3G Femto Home Access solution including Thomson’s residential gateway will start at the beginning of 2008, and commercial deployments are planned for the third quarter of 2008. While the femto market is still in its early stages of development and consequently difficult to forecast, market research firms ABI Research and Ovum respectively estimate this market could reach ten to twelve million units by 2010.