19 July 2004

Nokia today announced its latest W-CDMA base station for the U.S. market, the Nokia MetroSite 50 BTS.

Nokia calls the new product a “siteless solution,” said Jim Harper, senior manager of U.S. W-CDMA system marketing for Nokia, referring to its size, which is small enough to allow it to be hung on a wall or mounted on a pole. Indeed, the 43-by-16-by-16-inch package includes a radio, transmission components, a power source and signal processing boards.

“It’s a big base station in a small package,” said Harper.

The MetroSite 50 BTS is capable of providing coverage to a macro, or wide area, environment or in a micro, or in-building, environment. The base station can be enhanced with high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology to increase downlink speeds, which would further enhance video and audio conferencing streaming media capabilities.

Nokia also offers indoor and outdoor-specific W-CDMA BTS solutions and an EDGE BTS solution, all of which are also HSDPA-ready.