Singapore’s StarHub unveiled 3G femtocell service
StarHub, the second largest mobile operator in Singapore, has unveiled commercial 3G femtocell service. It is claimed to be the first in the world. 3G femtocell is a portable cellular access device that connects a user’s 3G mobile phone directly to an internet-enabled router in the home so that users can make voice and video calls and send SMS over StarHub’s cable network from their mobile phones.
StarHub is making all local outgoing voice, video calls and SMS free for customers using the ‘Home Zone’ service, ensuring that users, who make frequent mobile calls and SMS from home, can enjoy significant cost-savings on their mobile phone bills.
Mr Anil Nihalani, Head of Mobile and Communications, StarHub, said:
As the operator that frequently delivers new innovations to the Singapore market, we see tremendous potential in the ‘Home Zone’ service which uses the 3G femtocell technology. While services such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) have been available for some years, these are restricted to VoIP-enabled mobile phones. The beauty of the 3G femtocell technology is that all 3G-enabled phones are supported and customers do not need to purchase special handsets to take advantage of it.
As an added bonus, besides his/her own mobile number, the subscriber can nominate up to three other StarHub mobile numbers to a white-list that will be recognised by the ‘Home Zone’ service. This means that up to four StarHub 3G mobile users can call out simultaneously over a single ‘Home Zone’ connection, each of the callers being able to enjoy the same benefits.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 am
All the mobile operator is developing 3G network for their market, will 3G fail as well as WAP ?
I think the main problem is, how far 3G demmand in their market?