The build-up to fulfill femtocell equipment contracts from more than 20 mobile operators worldwide could be the reason behind Alcatel-Lucent's prediction that 2010 will be the year femtocells make their market breakthrough.
Yannick Dupuch, director of femto product lines at Alcatel-Lucent, believes there will be significant expansion in the femtocell market next year with sales of between 5 and 10 million units. Dupuch said the company already was shipping 3G femtocells to a number of mobile operators, including Chunghwa Telecom, and was looking to establish partnerships with a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers to develop femtocell equipment on a long-term basis, given that the production of this technology required a higher level of software expertise.
As a further indication of the maturity of the technology, ip.access has announced its picocells had been deployed to provide additional network coverage for last weekend's Monaco F1 Grand Prix. The deal comes on the back of Monaco Telecom's recent deployment of ip.access's nanoBTS systems to boost network services to VIPs, businesses and hotels in the principality.
For more on this story:
DigiTimes and Cellular News
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