Access to a femtocell can be controlled as part of handover of a mobile device from macrocell to femtocell. Macro network platform issues a handover (HO) request towards femto network platform and a single virtual femto node, which represents a plurality of femto access points (APs). Location estimate(s) for the mobile device drives selection of a target femto AP. Selection of the target AP results in acceptance of the HO request. The mobile device also can request macro-to-femto (MTF) handover. HO neighbor list(s) is generated by decoding a network-issued identifier for each femto APs in a set of femtocells, and selectively ranking each femto AP based at least on channel quality; access privileges of the mobile device to each of the identified femto APs determines selectivity. Validation of mobile device's access right(s) drives acceptance of the MTF HO request to a top ranked femto AP.