The hype surrounding femtocells reached a fever pitch in 2007. These router-sized mobile home base stations promise to solve the many shortcomings faced by existing WiFi/cellular fixed-mobile convergence services and enable operators to offer consumers high-speed data, VoIP and voice services in the home with reduced infrastructure costs. Operators had begun talking about their trial plans, while Sprint launched commercial services in two markets [1].

The Femto Forum, an industry group advocating femtocell technology, was born this summer with a handful of smaller vendors, but closed out the year with some 40 members [2] that include Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Motorola, and ZTE. Operators have also joined the ranks: Bharti Airtel in India, Bouygues Telecom, Carphone Warehouse Networks, Orsacom Telecom and Telefonica 02.

Still, there's much work to be done before femtocells can become a widespread reality. Chief among them are lack of standards, network integration and cost assumptions.

Related articles:
BT evaluating femtocells Report [3] 
Ericsson bows home femtocell Report [4]