Europe : Ericsson is introducing the Home 3G Access Point to provide local indoor coverage in homes and small offices providing full HSPA performance. HSPA supports up to 14Mbps in the downlink and 5.8Mbps in the uplink. With the Home 3G Access Point installed, the end-user's mobile phone or 3G/HSPA enabled PC will switch from the regular outdoor radio network to the indoor radio base station the moment he or she walks through the door.

Mikael Bäck, vice president of WCDMA Radio Networks at Ericsson, says: "The benefit of the Home 3G Access Point is that people can use the same device anywhere they go with the best possible performance. The operator also has the opportunity to offer one specific tariff for the home and a different one when the end-user is on the move."

The indoor home access point is small in size and is connected to the operator's network using any broadband access such as ADSL2+ as the backhaul link.

The home access point is compatible with any WCDMA/HSPA device and offers secure access both over the air and over the backhaul link. This means that all traffic is securely encrypted and that authentication is done with the regular security features that the SIM-card offers for regular mobile phones. The SIM-card authentication mechanism can also be used to support secure payment solutions.

The Home 3G Access Point provides the opportunity for an operator to further strengthen the relationship with the end users. A 3G access point has a unique advantage in offering high quality services to all members of that household. This provides an incentive for all users in that household to have the same operator. Only designated users can connect to a specific access point.

"Many operators are fixed-line operators, and now that more and more households are becoming wireless, they are looking for solutions where they can use their fixed line infrastructure to gain advantages in the wireless space," Bäck says.

Ericsson's Home 3G Access Point is a unique solution in the market since it offers full integration with the radio macro layer. The same radio frequencies can be used both by the Home 3G Access Point frequency and the outdoor radio macro network allowing maximum usage of the scarce and expensive radio spectrum.

The Home 3G Access Point will be available through selected operators, starting in 2007.

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