Date: 11th Aug 2010

Femtocell shipments to cross 54 million in 2015

ABI Research forecasts femtocell rollout by operators to have more than doubled in the last year. ABI also forecasts by 2015 there will be more than 54 million femtocell shipments.

Here below are the contents of ABI's release:

China and North America the Keys:
What will determine the adoption rate? According to mobile networks practice director Aditya Kaul, "The critical factor for femtocell adoption will be the operators in North America and, to an even greater extent, in China. Chinese operators are still trying to form a view about the femtocell value proposition. In North America, the question is which operator will be most aggressive with femtocell rollouts. AT&T is already proactive, but it appears that Sprint and Verizon are gearing up for a second wave of femtocell deployments."

Drivers:
Femtocells were originally restricted to the consumer market, but enterprise/business grade femtocells are starting to see the light of day. Apart from providing basic voice coverage, integration with IP-PBX systems is a potential driver. Outdoor metro-grade femtocells have also seen recent deployments.

Falling prices are providing a boost too - WCDMA femtocells are now priced below the critical $100 psychological threshold, leading some operators to give them away for free. Softbank in Japan was the first; Vodafone in Greece and AT&T in the US are selectively following suit for high-value customers.

Obstacles:
However one hurdle still to be addressed, says Kaul, is that of coordination within operators, where the relevant departments aren't always "on the same page." The fact that femtocells are "base stations in the skin of access points" requires different organizational thinking and synchronization.