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Today sees launch of Femto Forum…
Launched today is the Femto Forum, an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation with founding members including Airvana, ip.access, NETGEAR, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys, and additional members apparently being made public in the coming months.
The Femto Forum says it will promote uptake of femtocell technologies through open standards, market education and ecosystem development. Initial working groups will concentrate on pre-competitive standards-focused issues, including radio planning and control, device provisioning and management and device to network standardisation. A marketing task force will help promote femto solutions across the industry and, according to the new organisation, will articulate positive, compelling benefits to end users. These include the enhanced coverage, quality-of-service, attractive tariffs and enhanced services which, argues the organisation, only femtocells operating in licensed spectrum can deliver.
The Femto Forum will be chaired by Professor Simon Saunders, who has more than 20 years wireless industry experience and has consulted to for a range of companies including O2, NTL and BT. He was also recently appointed to Ofcom’s Spectrum Advisory Board.
“The most successful mobile technologies have always been founded on vigorous open standards, interoperability and a keen understanding of consumer demand,” ventures Saunders. “The Forum is committed to securing these conditions and working with all major stakeholders to ensure successful and timely femtocell deployment worldwide.”
“All of the major mobile operator groups are currently undergoing trials and evaluations of femtocell products to add capacity and coverage to their networks,” adds Stuart Carlaw, ABI Research. “However the introduction of open standards will be critical in enabling an economy of scale that will better enable the OEM and semiconductor communities to meet very aggressive price points and stimulate the market.”
John Williamson
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