After supporting a successful carrier trial, ClearSky Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of mobile data services to regional wireless carriers, announces the signing of a multi-year contract with NEC Corporation of America (NEC) to offer Femtocell as a Service (FaaS) to regional wireless carriers.
According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, global mobile data traffic is predicted to increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015; Cisco calls this growth the “mobile data tsunami.” But as demand for mobile data services increases year over year, so does the need for additional wireless capacity and abundant coverage. Traditional macro cellular networks alone cannot fulfill this need. Informa Telecoms & Media predicts femtocells will become the “backbone” of wireless networks in the future, as they can offload much of the wireless demand onto existing wired connections.
“We are keen to enable operators of all sizes and technology interests to access the benefits of femtocells to the benefit of their customers. Femtocell as a Service offers an alternative approach to launching services for many carriers and we welcome ClearSky’s announcement,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Small Cell Forum. “Femtocells are a key component of next generation networks and a ubiquitous network society, and the availability of this technology as a hosted service puts femtocell deployment within reach for all rural operators.”
“We believe femtocells can be deployed by rural carriers to cost effectively address a number of operational challenges including reducing roaming costs by filling coverage gaps in their own markets, offloading data traffic from their core networks, and eliminating poor coverage within their subscribers’ residences,” said Tony Tagliareni, ClearSky Chief Sales & Marketing Officer. “NEC’s Femtocell Gateway and corresponding plug-and-play Residential, Enterprise and Outdoor Femtocell Access Points (FAPs) ideally address all of these challenges.”
“With more than 15 years of hosting network infrastructure along with a reach of 80 carrier clients, ClearSky was the obvious choice to work with us in offering FaaS as a hosted solution,” said Harumi Ikeda, Executive Vice President, NEC Corporation of America, Carrier Solutions. “Given the success of our market trial with ClearSky so far, our alignment has already been proven successful.”
About ClearSky Technologies, Inc.
For more than a decade, ClearSky Technologies has been a leader in providing mobile data solutions for regional wireless carriers, enabling them to offer the same advanced technology as national carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. ClearSky’s powerful array of products and services includes LTE, traffic and policy management, Multi-Generation SMS, MMS and mobile Internet gateway, along with P-SMS and carrier-branded content portals. Headquartered in Orlando, ClearSky currently provides mobile data services to more than 80 wireless operators serving 8 million subscribers across the Americas. For more information, visit www.csky.com.
About NEC Corporation of America
Headquartered in Irving, Texas, NEC Corporation of America is a leading provider of innovative IT, network, communications and biometrics products and solutions for service carriers, Fortune 1000 and SMB businesses across multiple vertical industries, including Healthcare, Government, Education and Hospitality. NEC Corporation of America delivers one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of technology solutions and professional services, including unified communications, wireless, voice and data, managed services, server and storage infrastructure, virtualized and carrier network systems, microwave radio communications and biometric security. NEC Corporation of America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, a global technology leader with a presence in over 44 countries and more than $37 billion in revenues. For more information, please visit www.necam.com.