The Femto Forum and the NGMN Alliance have agreed to work together to ensure a smooth migration of femtocells as they move from today’s first steps to implementation in next-generation networks. This collaborative effort will let operators use femtocells in their next-generation networks and effectively manage costs and spectrum.

The two organizations plan to establish clear performance targets, define technology requirements, make fundamental recommendations and develop deployment scenarios. For its part, the NGMN Alliance recommends  requirements for a cost-optimized indoor node design and self-organizing networks with automated self-optimizing and self-configuring functionality.

According to Professor Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femto Forum, femtocells open up all kinds of opportunities for operators and can have a transformative effect on future networks. “Femtocells could be employed using higher frequencies to deliver targeted intense high-bandwidth requirements inside buildings … This is expected to enable operators to use the scarce lower frequency spectrum to provide good quality coverage across entire markets with the minimum number of macro network cells”