Mobile World Congress, Barcelona — picoChip has announced that Alpha Networks, Argela, Askey, C&S Micro, Contela and Zyxel are the latest customers to use picoChip's PC302 picoXcell™ SoC in HSPA+ femtocell designs. These six customers bring the total number of manufacturers using picoXcell for femtocells to over 20. Previously disclosed customers include Alcatel Lucent, GWT, ipAccess, Sagem and Ubiquisys.

The company pioneered the femtocell SoC market and currently claims to be the only company with products qualified for major carriers' networks and shipping in volume. The market is moving into volume deployment, with ten carriers now offering commercial service and sixty more in trials.

In addition, a number of customers are using picoChip's semiconductors and software for LTE, TD-SCDMA, GSM and cdma2000 deployments. The company is also shipping in very high volume for WiMAX basestations to a large number of OEMs.

Some of the largest operators in the world have now introduced femtocell services, including Vodafone in Europe with the SureSignal product.

Peter Jarich, Service Director with Current Analysis notes that specialist developers and larger OEMs have dominated early femtocell deployments. He contends that a market where femtocells are nearly as inexpensive as WiFi and femto capabilities are integrated into a wide array of home networking gear will require the participation of new entrants and ODMs.

Peter adds that picoChip's success with these players delivers a powerful endorsement, highlighting the credibility and completeness of its platform, while suggesting a move towards a reference platform model.

For further information visit www.picochip.com.