Cisco Systems today announced it has invested in UK-based femtocell company ip.access, a move that further demonstrates widening interest in the small home base station technology that aims to improve indoor mobile phone coverage. Neither company disclosed details of the size of the investment. The funding builds on other recent investments in ip.access by Intel, Motorola and Scottish Equity Partners.

The deal follows Google’s strategic investment in femtocell vendor Ubiquisys last year. Many large mobile phone operators are currently trialling, or plan to commercially launch, femtocell services. Names include TeliaSonera, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange France, Sprint Nextel, Telefonica and Japan’s Softbank. According to Frost & Sullivan, the much-hyped femtocell market will reach 21.4 million subscribers in Western Europe by 2010, with 10.7 million femtocell deployments. By 2011, Frost & Sullivan expects the region to reach 39.4 million femtocell subscribers with 15.8 million deployments. ABI Research states that some 70 million femtocells will be installed in homes worldwide, serving 150 million users, by 2012.