Emin Gurdenli (Group CTO) has for some time expressed concerns at the enormous operational costs of providing high speed data services on their 3G network. He has spoken at several conferences explaining his focus on backhaul transmission costs, exploring DSL and broadband ethernet options to drive costs down.

Whilst optimistic about the technology, with no unsurmountable technical problems, he suggested there was more work to do to solidify the business case - "We have to have completed the development of the concept - not just the technology - including the business models and so on".

Whilst T-Mobile USA continues to have a strong proposition using WiFi dual mode phones - Hotspot@Home - this is targetted more at poor coverage gaps, where 3G femtocells will have to provide more significant service innovation to achieve high takeup.

T-Mobile UK is being merged with Orange UK to become the largest UK mobile network. This consolidation is likely to affect major strategic decisions for femtocell launch in the UK.

In October 2008, T-Mobile CTO Gurdenli indicated they would offer femtocells commercially before end March 2009, with a domestic offer following on during 1H 2009.

In June 2009 at Femtocell World Summit, Klaus-Jurgen Krath (Senior VP Radio Network Engineering) said T-Mobile was committed to launching before the end of 2009. There were no technical "show stoppers" identified from their field trials. He did not forsee rapid takeup (in hundreds of thousands), but rather a more limited volume. They would also be used to replace repeaters and picocells within their network. This will lead to a phased introduction of integrated home gateways, first with a fixed/mobile offer and later fully integrated home services.

Comments (2)

Philip said:

	Mr I use a Nokia phone on the T-Mobile network, can I purchase a unit to enable me to use my mobile in my basement office in my home in Manchester England?
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February 22, 2009
Votes: +2

ThinkFemtocell said:

Not quite yet... T-Mobile have announced they will offer commercial service in Germany around mid 2009, but no firm dates yet for UK customers. Watch this space though - it's feasible this could be available for you later in 2009. At this time, your choice of basement coverage solutions in the UK are either: 1) Orange's UMA service which uses WiFi. It is available in the UK, but you have to search it out. You would have to change your handset to a UMA capable model as well as your network provider to Orange, and also use Orange broadband. 2) Buy a repeater. These aren't generally approved by the network operators because they can cause a lot of disruption to other users in your area. They also take a bit of DIY wiring to install. The make and model of phone doesn't matter much for femtocells, as long as it's 3G capable (most newer handsets are).

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February 23, 2009
Votes: +0