A method for configuring a femtocell base station in a wireless communications network, the method comprising: transmitting a start-up message to a femtocell management system ; receiving county level information from the femtocell management system, the county level information including a list of at least one of unused carriers, the unused carriers being the carriers allocated to the county but that are unused by the macro base stations located in the county, and a wireless communication network protocol technology type for the at least one of the unused carriers; and determining local level information, wherein determining local level information comprises: identifying a plurality of county level overlay macro base stations, the overlay macro base stations being macro base stations whose cells overlay the femtocell base station; identifying a list of common carriers allocated to the plurality of macro base stations; in the county area; identifying a list of common carriers allocated to the overlay macro base stations; and determining a list of the unused common carriers by removing or subtracting carriers listed in the overlay macro base station common carriers list from carriers listed in the macro base station common carriers list, saving the list of the unused common carriers as a list of extra available carriers for use by the femtocell base station; and determining if there are available carriers for use by the femtocell base station, identified in the county level information list of the at least one of unused carriers received or in the local level information list of unused common carriers determined; wherein the unused carriers are received split into at least two portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion is saved as a list of carriers available for a first wireless communication network protocol technology type and the second portion is saved as a list of carriers available for a second wireless communication network protocol technology type. transmitting a start-up message to a femtocell management system ; receiving county level information from the femtocell management system, the county level information including a list of at least one of unused carriers, the unused carriers being the carriers allocated to the county but that are unused by the macro base stations located in the county, and a wireless communication network protocol technology type for the at least one of the unused carriers; and determining local level information, wherein determining local level information comprises: identifying a plurality of county level overlay macro base stations, the overlay macro base stations being macro base stations whose cells overlay the femtocell base station; identifying a list of common carriers allocated to the plurality of macro base stations; in the county area; identifying a list of common carriers allocated to the overlay macro base stations; and determining a list of the unused common carriers by removing or subtracting carriers listed in the overlay macro base station common carriers list from carriers listed in the macro base station common carriers list, saving the list of the unused common carriers as a list of extra available carriers for use by the femtocell base station; and determining if there are available carriers for use by the femtocell base station, identified in the county level information list of the at least one of unused carriers received or in the local level information list of unused common carriers determined; wherein the unused carriers are received split into at least two portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion is saved as a list of carriers available for a first wireless communication network protocol technology type and the second portion is saved as a list of carriers available for a second wireless communication network protocol technology type. <EOS>