Portable base station cuts roaming bills

HELSINKI

FREQUENT travellers who want to cut roaming fees o n t h e i r mobile-phone calls now have a device that would allow them to do exactly that.

A technology start-up backed by Google on Wednesday unveiled the world’s first personal base station for international travellers which enables them to make mobile calls as if they are in their home country, thus reducing roaming fees.

Ubiquisys said when consumers could get the device would depend on telecoms operators. The company is in talks with several of them.

The telecoms-network base station, which is plugged into a user’s computer, is slightly larger than a  smartphone and needs an Internet connection.

Depending on local regulations, travellers would need to put the phone on the base station, or keep the phone within the same room as the station, for it to work.

The new device, called attocell, is designed for use with Apple’s iPhone, but it also workswith Google’s Android phones, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry and Nokia’s smartphones.

Ubiquisys is one of the top companies in the new market for femtocells – small, low-power indoor base stations for 3G mobile-phone networks.

Femtocells allow operators struggling with network capacity to improve indoor coverage at a much lower cost.

Many industry analysts forecast the market to surge in the next few years, helped by falling prices, and to top US$1 billion (S$1.2 billion) in two to three years.

In addition to Ubiquisys, major technology firms such as Cisco, Samsung Electronics, Alcatel- Lucent and Huawei make femtocells.

The devices are plugged into a user’s broadband Internet connection, like a wireless Internet base station, and allow users to make calls or use data services with their regular 3G mobile phones.
REUTERS

Source: www.mypaper.com.sg