The Femtocell concept has received a further boost following the announcement from Motorola that it had completed end-to-end testing of its 3G Femtocell solution and had begun trials with a major European, but unnamed, mobile operator. 

Femtocells, which enable operators to provide better quality in-building coverage, are being viewed positively by mobile operators from two standpoints. Firstly, Femtocells potentially enable the operators to gain incremental revenues by capturing in-building calls that would otherwise be made via the fixed network and, secondly, Femtocells are normally purchased by the end-user thereby relieving the operator of additional infrastructure Capex and Opex. 

According to Joe Cozzolino, VP and GM of Motorola home & networks mobility EMEA, the company can now offer a fully integrated and tested end-to-end solution, based on open standard interfaces. "This includes a range of Femto cell customer premises equipment (CPE) and 3G devices, a core network concentrator, systems integration services and a CPE management solution."

Ericsson claimed it had recently received volume orders for Femtocell equipment from a number of European mobile operators--although in this case they were based upon 2G technology.

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