“We’re delighted to team with Nokia Siemens Networks to enable our growing number of international broadband service providers to offer their customers enhanced in-home coverage and access to a host of advanced multimedia applications via standard 3G handsets,” said David James, NETGEAR’s director of product marketing for service provider markets. “When mobile operators deploy our combined solution they will benefit from increased network capacity and customer satisfaction, reduced costs for data backhaul and base station deployments and faster delivery of next-generation services.”

Launched in July 2007, the Femto Home Access Solution from Nokia Siemens Networks introduces open interfaces, boosting the femtocell ecosystem and enabling operators to further enhance their 3G service offering and coverage. Nokia Siemens Networks is delivering to operators  the Femto Gateway as well as associated equipment and services for the network, while NETGEAR is providing operators with the Femtocell Voice Gateway for installation on customer premises.

Seven products in one, the NETGEAR Femtocell Voice Gateway includes a comprehensive residential gateway with integrated ADSL2+ modem, router, 10/100 wired LAN switch, 802.11g wireless access point, Voice over-IP (VoIP), SPI double firewall, and private mobile network with 3G femtocell technology. The gateway enables consumers to share their broadband Internet connection with their mobile devices and networked computers, both wired and wirelessly. Featuring a 3G (UMTS) femtocell with HSDPA plus high-speed 802.11g, Wi-Fi and four 10/100 Ethernet ports, the Femtocell Voice Gateway makes it possible for end users to download large files, video conference, and distribute and play high-quality digital movies, photos and MP3s on mobile devices in the blink of an eye.

Together, the NETGEAR Femtocell Voice Gateway and the Nokia Siemens Networks’ Femto Gateway will make it possible for 3G operators to extend their coverage and increase their advanced service offerings. The solution will help operators reduce costs, eliminate indoor dead zones, extend broadband access to mobile devices, unload traffic from their base transceiver stations (BTSs) and increase average revenue per user (ARPU) with service bundling.

“We are very pleased about our new co-operation on this 3G Femto Home Access Solution with NETGEAR,” stated Timo Hyppölä, head of Indoor Radio Solutions Product Line, Nokia Siemens Networks. “NETGEAR’s new all-in-one Femtocell Voice Gateway combined with our open architecture will undoubtedly help drive widespread adoption of Femto solutions. This collaboration highlights our commitment to working with industry-leading CPE manufacturers to provide real value to service providers.”

The NETGEAR Femtocell Voice Gateway (DVG834GH) will be on display in Nokia Siemens Networks’ stand (8B157, Hall 8) at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona next week, February 11-14, 2008.