The FemtoZone will serve as the MWC’s central information point on femtocell markets and technologies featuring public presentations from industry leading operators and a broad ecosystem of solution vendors.
London, UK – 21st January 2009 – The Femto Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports femtocell deployment worldwide, has together with the GSMA, the global body for the mobile industry, created the FemtoZone at Mobile World Congress 2009 (16-19 February 2009). The FemtoZone 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.
The FemtoZone (Stand – 2.1B34) will feature a daily schedule of public presentations from operators and vendors on the major opportunities and challenges facing the femtocell market. This will include an exclusive presentation from an independent analyst firm which has conducted extensive research into the operator business case using real world statistics from the Femto Forum’s operator members. Other presentations will cover a variety of topics that impact operators, device vendors, component suppliers and femtocell application developers. The FemtoZone will demonstrate the level of industry support and breadth of the femtocell ecosystem and will showcase a variety of products.
“Over the past year the femtocell industry has overcome major technical and business challenges paving the way in 2009 for operators to introduce commercial services. As such the Mobile World Congress is going to be a key event for operators to cement their consumer propositions to ensure their launches are as successful as possible,” said Professor Simon Saunders, Chairman of The Femto Forum. “We’re thrilled to be sharing our vision with the GSMA which has been instrumental in the development of new technologies and services in the communications industry. This collaboration will create a perfect venue for show attendees to learn about, discuss and contribute to this exciting new technology.”
“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. “Together with the Femto Forum we’re aiming to make the FemtoZone the centerpiece for everyone interested in femtocells at Mobile World Congress.”
More information on the FemtoZone, including the speaking program, is available here
About The Femto Forum
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum to connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections. The Femto Forum (www.femtoforum.org) has been set up to promote the wide-scale adoption of femtocells. The Forum will support and drive the adoption of industry wide standards and common architectures to enable the widespread adoption & deployment of femtocells by operators around the world. It will direct and implement a multi-faceted marketing campaign to raise the profile, drive technology development & deployment and to promote the potential of femto solutions among industry stakeholders, journalists, analysts, regulators, special interest groups, standards bodies and consumers.