As a disruptive new technology, femtocells have to gain the support of several different groups before they get the green light for adoption and commercial rollout by a network operator. I believe there are four specific groups who must approve. In order for femtocells to succeed, then "all the ducks must be in a row" first.

 Its not just broadband data load that's clogging up mobile networks.

It's easy to concentrate on the headline figures of peak data rates and total data volumes when measuring the tremendous growth in mobile broadband network capacity. One of the other issues which is consuming resources relates to short bursts of traffic used to check status. Some applications are particularly "chatty", pinging a central server frequently to check for updates. On today's wired IP networks, this may not have much effect - each individual packet is treated much like the next. However, on a wireless network this can involve bringing up the radio transport session from dormant to active state, arranging for a suitable timeslot to send/receive the traffic with all the associated processing and management.

  I've read several articles recently articulating that mobile broadband networks are quickly filling up with traffic and thus affecting the end-user experience. The dramatic reduction in pricing (1000 times cheaper), wide availability of USB data dongles and 3G service means that mobile broadband is moving from an occasional outdoor/on-the-road access to being marketed as a direct competitor for DSL wireline broadband at similar or even lower prices.

There are concerns that the networks aren't geared up to take the strain (particularly of streaming video) and are actively looking at alternative ways to satisfy their customer demands. One example is where the Apple iTune downloads to their iPhone are restricted to WiFi rather than over the mobile broadband network.

 The thirst for mobile data has never been stronger. Data revenues from several operators now exceed $10Bn annually and continue to grow. The adoption of mobile broadband has been rapid, particularly in Europe, where prices have been driven down to $20-30/month or less.

Indeed, a survey by the WiFi alliance found that 48% of students would give up beer rather than WiFi.

Data will grow by 200 to 700 times in the next 10 years