A new report from market research firm Infonetics Research says worldwide sales of GSM/GPRS and 3G femtocell access points will heat up quickly once femtocell services become more widely available, with unit shipments expected to grow 10-fold from 2007 to 2008, and revenue reaching more than $630 million in 2010.
The greatest opportunity, the report indicates, will be presented by 3G femtocells that are deployed in households, where they can be used to provide consistent high-speed coverage as well as improved home-zone type tariffs and services for customers. 3G femtocells offer a practical and potentially much less expensive alternative to enhancing coverage by further investing in denser 3G macrocell networks. In addition, as femtocells are backhauled over an Internet connection, such as a consumer's DSL line, the mobile operator could make operational expenditure savings on macrocellular backhaul.
"Femtocells could allow mobile operators to make a significant shift away from just relying on traditional cellular network architecture; the prospect of capex and opex savings combined with new personal broadband service opportunities is generating intense interest from operators in femtocells, and more vendors are developing products. If the hype translates into deployment, femtocells could radically transform the economics of mobile data and content-based services," said Richard Webb, wireless analyst for Infonetics Research.
Other highlights from the report:
Posted to the site on 14th December 2007
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