Bath-based picoChip has revealed a femtocell reference design with 2km range, claiming it to be the world's first Class 3 cell.
"It brings femtocell technology to campuses, rural areas or metrozone hot-spots," said the firm.
The eight user capacity design, called PC8219E, is actually already in use, deployed in volume by OEM customers with mobile carriers, said the firm.
Its extended-reach HSPA baseband is based on picoChip's PC8208 and 8209 PHYs.
"The first femtocell deployments have been focused on the residential market but we are now seeing interest in moving beyond the home," said Femto Forum chairman Simon Saunders. "Numerous operators have called for outdoor femtocells which will extend coverage and provide additional mobile broadband capacity to rural and metropolitan areas as well as enterprise campuses."
The Femto Forum has recently standardised femtocells into Class 1 (typically residential), Class 2 (primarily indoor for enterprise) and Class 3 (for rural, metro and wider area deployment).