Eight femtocell deployments have been implemented worldwide, according to the Femto Forum. They have been by AT&T, China Unicom, NTT DOCOMO, SOFTBANK MOBILE, Sprint-Nextel, StarHub, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.
The femtocell market is on track to meet predictions for volume deployments to start in 2010, says the Femto Forum.
The Femto Forum is an independent industry association that supports femtocell deployment worldwide.
"The unique ability of femtocells to provide high-quality indoor coverage, major additional capacity and interesting new services for all mobile phones is driving enormous interest from mobile operators around the world - despite the challenging economic climate. The number of deployments has exceeded my expectations and this is attributable to increased clarity around the business case - thanks to in-depth research and modelling tools - and the progress made on standards," says Simon Saunders, the Femto Forum's Chairman.
According to the Forum, numerous advanced trials are also in place with operators globally and further deployments are expected shortly.
In April, this year, 3GPP completed the world's first femtocell standard in April.
Equipment that meets this standard will be entering the market in the coming months ahead of interoperability testing in March 2010.
3GPP2 and the WiMAX Forum are expected to complete further standards over the next six months.