Sprint (NYSE:S) was the first US operator to launch a commercial femtocell service. It was the first to make the femtocell available to MVNO and wholesale partners. And it just may become the first operator to offer an enterprise femtocell to its business customers.
Sprint enterprise convergence product marketing manager Steve Coker would not comment specifically on whether a business femtocell service is in the works, but he did say “the value offered by femtocells would be highly consistent with our strategy.” Specifically the femtocell powered by IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture would allow Sprint to extend a host of managed services and fixed mobile convergence applications to Sprint’s business customers.
Coker wouldn’t elaborate on the details of how such a platform would work, but it’s easy to imagine Sprint integrating a femtocell with its Mobile Integration service, which extends to the mobile phone all of call features, messaging and routing services of Cisco Systems and Avaya communications managers. The IMS-powered platform allows mobile phones to tap directly into the PBX through the mobile network using a secure IP connection over Sprint’s multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network. By adding femtocells to the mix, Sprint could essentially bring the mobile network into the enteprise, creating a cluster of private base station access points that could augment the individual office extensions or replace them entirely.