Femto Forum

The Femto Forum is a new business alliance formed in July 2007 and is vigorously pushing femtocell technology, a sort of fixed mobile convergence(FMC) technology ^[1] . The group, which started out with just seven companies, now has 40 members. The alliance started with some rather small players: Airvana, ip.access, Netgear, PicoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys. Now new big player members including Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Motorola, and ZTE have joined the alliance. Operators also joining the ranks are Bharti Airtel in India, Bouygues Telecom, Carphone Warehouse Networks, Orsacom Telecom and Telefonica 02.

Femtocells are being billed as the next big thing in fixed-mobile convergence, promising to solve many of the shortcomings faced so far by many existing WiFi/cellular FMC(Fixed Mobile Convergence) services, namely a lack of compelling handsets and perceived complexity of the solution. Femtocells are envisioned to enable mobile operators to offer micro base stations for use in subscribers' homes or officers to deliver voice and data at carrier-grade quality at cheaper costs for operators and customers.

The Forum is now working with carriers to ensure product interoperability and commercial readiness. The Forum has also developed four working groups: standardization, network issues such as interoperability regulation and marketing and promotion of business models.

References

* [http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/femto-forum-attracts-big-guns/2007-11-08?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=link Femto Forum attracts big guns]

External links

* [http://www.fixedmobileconvergence.net/ Fixed Mobile Convergence ^[1] ]
* [http://www.thefmca.com/ Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance]
* [http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/ Open Handset Alliance]