AT&T and Sprint are battling it out to become the first US operator to commercially launch a 3G femtocell designed to boost voice and high-speed data coverage indoors. Unstrung reported yesterday that Airvana has won a non-exclusive deal to supply Sprint with its 3G ‘HubBub’ CDMA femtocells through December 2014, and the publication has previously quoted Sprint execs as stating that the operator will be the first in the US to launch 3G femtocells. News of the Airvana deal follows an Unstrung report last month in which AT&T executive director Gordon Mansfield said: “We’re on track for a full national launch by the end of 2009… This will be the first UMTS femto launch in the US.”

Sprint was the first US operator to launch a 2G femtocell (designed to improve voice coverage only), back in 2007, manufactured by Samsung. AT&T is currently conducting trials of its 3G femtocell, whilst Verizon Wireless – the largest US operator – in January commercially launched its 2G ‘Network Extender’ unit, manufactured by Samsung and retailing at US$250 with no monthly service fee. Femtocells have been heavily hyped in the last year but are yet to gain major commercial success, although Vodafone has given the sector a helping hand by recently announcing its own product, the Access Gateway.