Femtocell equipment market to expand significantly in 2010, says Alcatel-Lucent executive

The market for femtocell equipment is expected to record breakneck growth in 2010 with sales of femtocell CPE (customer premise equipment) products likely to top 5-10 million units, according to Yannick Dupuch, director of femto product lines at Alcatel-Lucent.

With regards to Alcatel-Lucent's deployment in the femtocell equipment segment, Dupuch stated that Alcatel-Lucent has begun shipping WCDMA-enabled 3G femtocell equipment to a number of telecom service providers, including Chunghwa Telecom (CHT).

Alcatel-Lucent is currently in the process of fulfilling femtocell equipment orders from over 20 carriers worldwide, Dupuch added.

Alcatel-Lucent is also looking at establishing partnerships with some of Taiwan-based network equipment makers to develop femtocell equipment on a long-term basis, given that the production of femtocell equipment requires a higher level of software expertise, Dupuch indicated.

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