Ukrainian mobile operator JSC Ukrtelecom is to launch commercial services using femtocell technology next year, joining the growing list of operators worldwide with femtocell aspirations. According to an Unstrung report, Ukraine’s national operator will take delivery of 3G femtocells from Huawei in the next few weeks and will soon start a trial with the Chinese vendor’s equipment. The operator also intends to trial Nokia Siemens Networks’ femtocell kit in the future.

The Ukranian operator is the third carrier known to be trying out Huawei’s 3G femtocell. Telefónica and Orange France have both conducted trials with the Chinese vendor, with the latter still evaluating a number of different vendors. Femtocell technology – designed to offer operators better indoor coverage, cut the cost of macro 3G networks and aid the development of new services – has seen great interest recently from the likes of operators Vodafone, Softbank, Orascom and Sprint Nextel. Meanwhile BT revealed today it is evaluating how femtocells might extend its converged service offerings, but warned that the cost of deploying the equipment is too high at present.