1:55 PM -- According to French mobile operator SFR , France is a tough market for femtocells.

And one of the issues that makes the country extra special in Europe is the growing public concern about the health risks from cellular antennas and handsets, according to Guillaume de Lavallade, director of network marketing at SFR, who was speaking at the Femtocells World Summit in London today.

WiFi hotspots have been disconnected in public libraries; there have been court actions to prevent the installation of cellular masts or have them removed when they're close to schools or homes; and the national government is investigating the health risk associated with masts and handsets, explains Lavallade.

"Introducing femtos in France in this environment is raising these questions," he says.

You can explain that the emitted power of femtos is 10 times less than that of WiFi, comparable to a DECT phone, and that 3G handsets emit less power when connecting to the femto than on the macro network, or that a network based on a femto architecture generates less power than a macro architecture, he says.

"It's difficult for an operator to take those facts and figures to the consumer," he says. [Ed. note: You don't say!]

SFR has been trialing a femto from Ubiquisys Ltd. , which was spotted on a French Website recently. (See SFR Femto Spotted, Operators Feel Femto Frustration, and SFR’s Femto Riposte.)

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Unstrung