picoChip selected by Korea Telecom for first WiBro / WiMAX Femtocell development

Femtocells are small, low-cost basestations, intended to be used in residential or corporate environments where high-speed coverage would otherwise be limited. By enabling cost-effective deployment they allow carriers to complete with UMA or voice-over-WiFi. The idea is increasingly recognised in the 3G community, but as the carrier most advanced in deploying WiBro, KT is the first to develop such a program for WiMAX. WiBro, the South Korean wireless telecommunications standard, is compatible with WiMAX 802.16e-2005 (mobile WiMAX), and aims to be the technology that delivers personal broadband to consumers around the globe.

Mr. Yoon, Jong Lok, Senior Executive Vice President of KT, said, "We are pleased to be co-developing WiMAX access points with the leader in Femtocell technology. Critically, picoChip delivers a complete solution, based on their cost-effective single chip processor. This is essential for this high volume market area where low bill-of-materials is necessary for success. KT is always looking out for growth markets and the introduction of WiMAX home basestations will improve coverage and accelerate market acceptance of the standard."

The picoChip / KT partnership developments will focus around the recently introduced PC20x family of processors from picoChip. The devices deliver the best MIPS per Dollar of any signal processor, and enable a single chip WiMAX BS PHY with integrated ARM for upper layer protocols. The picoChip platform is flexible and upgradeable.