Sprint taps Airvana for 3G, IMS-ready femtocells

Though Sprint has given no indication what it plans to do with the new femtocells, it has been aggressively expanding its femtocell services in recent months. Last month, Sprint announced it would make its femtocells available to its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partners and other resellers. And in recent interview Sprint enterprise convergence product marketing manager Steve Coker talked up the benefits of an enterprise femtocell, though he would not say if Sprint was planning to offer such a service in the near future. “The value offered by femtocells would be highly consistent with our strategy,” Coker said.

A 3G femtocell backed by IMS could extend the bevy of enterprise services Sprint offers in its enterprise division to what would essentially be a private cellular network in the office, replacing desktop phone extensions with mobile handsets. On the consumer side, Sprint could use an IMS-femtocell deployment to offer femtocells apps. For example, the femtocell could generate automatic text alerts, notifying parents when their children have left the house, or the femtocell could become the central hub of a home network, automatically synching music or movies between a mobile device and a PC.