December 31, 2009 | Wall Street Journal - In 2009, consumers flocked to the new smartphones hitting the market, and the world's wireless operators felt the pressure to upgrade their networks in response.

2010 will be the year that the carriers - and maybe even consumers - start placing orders for network-boosting products, investors and entrepreneurs say. And among the gizmos that will be in high demand are femtocells, the small base stations that boost coverage.

Long a subject of debate in the telecom world, femtos are poised to become a household word, as some of the barriers to widespread deployment will fall away with the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010.

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