The micro-cell era finally has a standard: Is femtocell finally a go?

Today, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) announced that it has published the first femtocell standard. Covered in the standard is network architecture, radio and interference aspects, management and provisioning, and security.

This new standard is a part of 3GPP's Release 8, and is interdependent with extensions that the Broadband Forum made to Technical Report 069 (TR-069). That document was developed to simplify the connectedness of end user equipment. It defines how hardware can automatically configure the protocols it uses in the application layer (ACS).

Femtocells are devices that converge fixed and mobile communications, and can be thought of as miniature cell towers. They connect to a wired broadband connection and generate a wireless mobile signal for cellular devices. There have been two carrier-level femtocell deployments thus far in the United States: the Sprint Airave, launched nearly one year ago, and the Verizon Wireless Network Extender launched in late January this year. Both products used the same Samsung CDMA femtocell device, which is not 3G.

AT&T's 3G Microcell, on the other hand, which is produced by Cisco, was leaked at about the same time as Verizon's device, and offered 3G connectivity. It has not been publicized since, and the page that previously showed the AT&T femtocell service is now password-protected.

"Our operator members have been insistent that the dozens of approaches to integrating femtocells with mobile operators' core networks had to be filtered down to a single standard. This new standard is crucial in turning the many femtocell operator trials taking place around the world into mass market commercial deployments," Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum, said in a statement today.

Now with a 3GPP, Femto Forum, and Broadband Forum-backed femtocell standard, it looks like an opportune time to launch the nation's first official 3G femtocell service.