T-Mobile has invested in another Femtocell company, this time putting cash in to Israeli semiconductor startup Percello Ltd. The deal follows T-Mobile’s venture arm investment in another company called Ubiquisys Ltd.
Percello makes baseband processor chips for 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) femtocells. Its first chip for 3G femtos, the PRC6000, complies with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 7 and can deliver 21.6 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.76 Mbit/s on the uplink. (See Percello Uses CEVA.) The PRC6000 will be available to customers for integration in the first quarter next year. It will be commercially available at the beginning of 2010. Percello targets femtocell access point vendors and residential gateway manufacturers, but the company has not announced any customers.
Hmmm – another space to watch is going to be what happens with Femtocells – Operators are currently having to look at all ways and means of spinning out network infrastructure, without them necessarily having to foot the bill directly. Femtocells are another link in that chain that may end up providing the LTE-like speeds that most of us are expecting from the next generation of devices.
[Via: Unstrung.com]