Sprint Embraces Femtocells

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to give some of its mobile customers femtocells, reportedly at no cost, as a retention device in areas where Sprint signal strength is weak.

“In certain situations, where you have really bad coverage in your home, we will give it to you as a retention tool,” Paget Alves, Sprint business markets group president, said.

Up to this point many mobile operators have been hesitant to embrace femtocell technology too broadly, as that would imply their macrocell networks are, by definition, inadequate.

But there are many circumstances under which the cost of upgrading the macrocellular network does not make economic sense, and that is where femtocells could be very helpful.

The other angle is that Sprint's plan explicitly acknowledges that it is using femtocells as a part of its infrastructure, and not a "subscriber amenity."

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