Femtocells World Summit will review the latest Femtocell developments

For most mobile operators this technology is now seen as an opportunity to gain market share for their brands, increase their foot-print in the home or office and reduce operating costs in their networks. With the prospect of greatly improved home coverage, super high data rates, and a consumer expectation of much cheaper (perhaps free) bundled calls, femtocells are hot property and many see a huge first mover advantage for an operator that gains a foothold and potentially consolidate the families’ or corporates’ mobile phone allegiance to their brand, network and content.

For the existing network providers, such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei, ZTE, Motorola, Alacatel-Lucent etc, femtocells could easily be the highest volume basestation product they will ever manufacture, but at the same time perhaps lowest value and lowest margin.

The mainstream in-home WiFi router providers, Thompson, Netgear, Cisco, etc are beginning to view femtocells as simply a value add to their own router boxes which already take pride of place in the home and many do not like the idea of the cellular network specialist getting in on the act.

Analysts following this community are working hard to tie down the business case, potential volumes, consumer reactions and timescales but this has not stopped a flurry or reports on femtocells being published to try and give a steer to the industry.

It is this backdrop that makes the forthcoming meeting in June of all the leading players such a key defining point for the technology and the industry with every one brushing up on their political, commercial and technical positions and the keynote speakers carrying the mantle of steering the industry through the many fold issues on the table.