:: Femto Forum ::

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February 2009

GSMA and the Femto Forum share the vision at Mobile World Congress

The FemtoZone (Stand 2.1B34) will serve as the industry's central information point on femtocell markets and technologies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month. The FemtoZone is the result of an alliance between the GSMA and Femto Forum.

The 4-day programme will feature public presentations from the world's leading operators - including Orange, Softbank, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telecom Italia and Cable & Wireless - and a broad ecosystem of solution vendors, on the major opportunities and challenges facing the femtocell market.

Additionally there will be an exclusive presentation from an independent analyst firm which has conducted extensive research into the operator business case using inputs validated by a wide group of mobile operators and equipment vendors.

The FemtoZone, which is hosted jointly by the GSMA and the Femto Forum, will serve as a one-stop-shop for all visitors interested in learning about the latest developments in the femtocell industry as it undergoes a pivotal year for deployment.

"This year's Mobile World Congress marks the beginning of the real acid test for femtocells. The FemtoZone will attempt to address the key issues, such as what is going to be the key driver for successful deployments and are there going to be further technical hurdles to be addressed before we see large scale deployment," said Robindhra Mangtani, Director of the GSMA project on Femtocells.

More information on the FemtoZone, including the speaking programme, is available HERE.

Also in this issue:
A look back and forth – 2008 and 2009 in a nutshell

Taking the fear out of interference

Femtocells make vital standards progress

Forum Establishes Special Interest Groups to Tackle New Challenges

Awards to recognise femtocell achievements

Words from the chair
by Simon Saunders, Chair, Femto Forum

Welcome to another edition of the Femto Forum’s newsletter. Simon Saunders

It’s been a fast and furious few months for femtocells with several deployments and real progress on key technological issues. We’ve seen the first 3G femtocell deployment by StarHub in Singapore and Japan’s SoftBank is hot on their heels. Sprint-Nextel, which shocked everyone with the world’s first femtocell deployment, now has competition from Verizon. The 3GPP has made great progress with standards.

The Forum’s membership just hit 100 including almost all of the world’s top 20 mobile operators. Yet somewhat mystifyingly many press and analysts have been disappointed by a lack of progress. I can only say that I certainly don’t feel mired in any ‘trough of disillusionment’ quite yet. Our prediction that 2009 will see several major operators commercially rollout femtocells leading up to mass deployment in 2010 is still on track. I am very pleased to take this opportunity to highlight a couple of interesting pieces of femtocell news.

First off, I’m sure it has escaped nobody that Mobile World Congress will soon be upon us. This year it will include a special collaboration between Femto Forum and the GSM Association: ‘The FemtoZone’ - a dedicated area on the show floor focusing on femtocells and featuring public presentations from operators and vendors and a technology showcase. Confirmed operator speakers include; Cable & Wireless, Orange, Telecom Italia, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Softbank. The FemtoZone will be in Hall 2, Level 1, stand B34 - you can get more information on our website.

Secondly, I can formally announce the Femto Forum Awards which will recognise the enormous progress made by the femtocell industry recently. The awards - which will be announced at the Femtocells World Summit in London in June - are open to operators, vendors, component providers and software developers. Femto Forum membership is not a requirement and the judging panel will be entirely independent. You can get details of the award categories and timescale for nominations HERE .

Finally, I’d also like to remind all members about the Femto Forum’s events programme. We will be in Tokyo 25-27 March for our first plenary of 2009 – this will take place alongside Avren’s Femtocells Asia event which we highly recommend (FULL members of the Femto Forum receive a 20% discount). Click HERE. for full details.

The Femto Forum will also be speaking at Telecom World Congress in April, LTE World Summit in May and WiMAX Forum Global Congress in June – full members of the Femto Forum members receive a 15% discount on registration. Find out more details about our events>