Femtocells due for next year

I’ve been at Bristol’s Wireless 2.0 event this morning. Much of the morning session of the show concentrated on Femtocell technology which is looking set to seriously reduce the cost of data for operators and theoretically at least, the users too.

Speakers from organisations including the FemtoForum, PicoChip and Ubiquisis were present and discussed some of the challenges involved in deploying the technology. Here are some of the highlights.

According to the FemtoForum:

• Revenues from broadband data have increased by 40-60pc during past 12 months
• Mobile industry is set to exceed $1,000,000,000,000 in gross revenues for 2008
• 3.5bn users already have phones compatible with femtocells

According to PicoChip:

• Vodafone is interested in using femtocells on the streets to provide the data capacity that is set to be consumed
• French operators are currently contemplating using femtocells to give universal mobile broadband coverage

According to Ubiquisis:

• Commercial launches are on the way
• iPhone has been a major factor in the increase in mobile data usage
• Femtocells will also have serious reductions for mobile operator’s environmental footprint
• Home femtocell launch expected for first half of 2009