A number of national newspapers claimed the telco was looking at the technology, which can be used to generate a short-range signal allowing a limited number of mobile devices to connect to the internet.

Vodafone offers its customers a 3G femtocell product called Sure Signal. It is a unit that users can plug into their home broadband to ensure they get good mobile phone coverage within their homes.

Virgin Media was rumoured to have been looking at emerging 4G data standards for a femtocell that could be deployed in specific high-traffic areas such as towns and city centres, where demand for data access is very high and could become a bottleneck.

But VM has scotched the rumours, claiming they are “Chinese whispers” arising from one company executive who was said to be merely theorising about the future challenges and opportunities for mobile data service operators.