Methods and apparatus for controlling access of a mobile device (14) to a femtocell base station (8) in a communications network (2) are described. The method determines whether to allow access of the mobile device (14) to the femtocell base station (8) based on the femtocell-mobile device path loss for transmissions between the mobile device and the femtocell base station. Access may be allowed if the femtocell-mobile device pathloss is lower than a threshold amount. Additionally or alternatively access may be allowed only if the femtocell-mobile device pathloss is lower than the macrocell-mobile device pathloss for transmissions between the mobile device (14) and a macrocell base station (4). The method is particularly applicable for hybrid access mode femtocells and additional conditions may be applied regarding the number of mobile device that are not part of the subscriber group that can access the femtocell. The method may be implemented by the femtocell, the macrocell or by any other suitable network device.
