Sprint is adding femtocells to its wholesale service line, a maneuver aimed in part at cable industry partners. Sprint has been selling femtocells to its retail customers for about a year.

A femtocell allows wireline and cable partners to add wireless to their portfolio, which is especially important as “cord cutting” continues to spike in tough economic times, Sprint said.

The femtocell works with any Sprint phone and requires an Internet broadband connection to carry the call back to the main Sprint network. When compared with unlicensed spectrum solutions (e.g., typical public Wi-Fi network solutions), the femtocell offers more reliable performance and less interference, Sprint said.

With a femtocell, Sprint resellers and customers can:

• Take advantage of enhanced coverage without having to purchase a new phone.
• Enjoy enhanced coverage for calls on up to three lines simultaneously.
• Easily install the device using their existing broadband Internet connection and AC power outlet; the femtocell is ready to use straight out of the box, with no configuration changes required.
• Take their call with them: Calls initiated on the femtocell will transfer automatically to the nationwide Sprint network when leaving the femtocell coverage area.