NTT DOCOMO has developed a dual-mode small-cell base station, or femtocell, supporting 3G (W-CDMA) and LTE simultaneously. The dual-mode femtocell, which will be commercially launched from December, is designed for indoor locations such as offices, shops and homes.
The new femtocell weighs only 0.7 kg and measures just 18.5cm by 17.5 cm by 4.5 cm. It supports 3G/LTE service coverage in a range of up to several tens of meters, depending on actual conditions. The LTE radio supports maximum downlink rates of 112 Mbps. The unit is plug-and-play, automatically configuring itself to the surrounding radio environment.
