US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has confirmed reports earlier this month that it is to commercially launch its ‘Airave’ femtocell service on a nationwide basis. The femtocell, manufactured by Samsung and retailing at US$99.99, is expected to go on sale from August 17, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. The operator has marketed the product as “the first commercially available femtocell, a mini cell tower that works with any [CDMA] Sprint phone and a broadband Internet connection to provide enhanced in-home wireless coverage.” Sprint is offering unlimited in-home calling with an optional Airave unlimited voice plan.

Sprint’s announcement marks the latest development in the femtocell sector, following operator interest from the likes of Verizon, Vodafone and Telefonica 02 Europe, as well as investment from Cisco, Google and T-Mobile. However, the hype surrounding the mass deployment of femtocells has been tempered this week by reports suggesting future handsets will need to be optimised in order to support the technology. In addition, an Unstrung report this week claims that vendor focus on finalising LTE specifications by the end of 2008 has raised concerns that femtocell standards work, which also faces a deadline of around December for inclusion in 3GPP Release 8, could suffer as a result.