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.
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