Infonetics: Femtocells Offer Opportunity to Put the Mobile Network at the Heart of the Home Network

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This month market research firm Infonetics Research completed interviews with more than 25% of the operators in the world that have already launched or plan to launch femtocell services by 2013. Excerpts follow from the resulting report, Residential Femtocell Service Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, which assesses operator needs and analyzes trends in the femtocell market.

ANALYST NOTE

“Operators are still very much focused on using femtocells to deliver better voice coverage, but our 2012 residential femtocell survey identifies a shift toward a more strategic utilization of femtocells for enhancing the mobile broadband experience and as a means for delivering value-added services like virtual home phone numbers and media file sharing,” explains Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave, mobile offload, and mobile broadband devices at Infonetics.

“But,” Webb adds, “The business model for more sophisticated femtocell services remains a big question mark. For the market to evolve, vendors need to help operators on pricing and service models so they can drive volumes and enable new service revenue. If it adds up, there’s a real opportunity to leverage the femtocell to put the mobile network at the heart of the home network—something that’s traditionally been beyond the reach of the mobile operator.”

FEMTOCELL SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The top drivers for offering residential femtocell services are improving mobile broadband and voice within the home, and offloading data traffic from macro networks
• 29% of operators surveyed plan to offer FD-LTE femtocell services by 2013
• WiFi, long seen as a competitor to the growth of femtocells in the home, is increasingly being viewed as complimentary by carriers
• Service provider respondents project they will have, on average, 211,000 femtocell subscribers by 2013

FEMTOCELL SURVEY SYNOPSIS

For its 27-page Residential Femtocell Service Strategies survey, Infonetics asked purchase-decision makers at service providers in North America, Europe/The Middle East/Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America about their plans for delivering femtocell services through 2013. Survey participants were asked about current and future femtocell service launches, adoption drivers and challenges, femtocell technologies, service features, add-on services, marketing, advertising, sales strategies, CPE features, form factors, expected service revenue, ARPU, and subscribers. To buy the survey, contact Infonetics: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.

RELATED RESEARCH

• Latest Infonetics Small Cells and Carrier WiFi research brief: http://bit.ly/T0YIjj
• Small cell market not big enough for all who want to play in it
• Infonetics Research bullish on millimeter wave market
• $44 billion to be spent over 5 years on mobile backhaul gear
• Femtocell market spikes 12% in Q2; Alcatel-Lucent nabs W-CDMA femto lead
• Femtocell market ignited by tight vendor battles, price erosion, shift to the enterprise
• Carrier WiFi equipment market exploding to $2.1 billion by 2016
• Mobile operators ramp WiFi deployments for data offload, seek to integrate WiFi

UPCOMING RESEARCH

Download SMALL CELLS and CARRIER WIFI report highlights, tables of contents, and prospectuses at http://www.infonetics.com/login, or Infonetics’ Publication Calendar at http://bit.ly/zwjcRs.

• Infonetics’ new 2013 Market Research Lineup
• 3Q12 Femtocell Equipment Market Share / Forecast
• 3G & 4G (LTE, WiMAX) Broadband Devices and Subscribers Market Share / Forecast
• Fundamental Telecom/Datacom Market Drivers: Global/Regional Market Trends/Conditions
• Microwave Equipment Market Share / Forecast
• Service Provider Capex, Revenue & Capex by Equipment Type: Market Forecast
• Small Cell Coverage Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey
• Small Cell and LTE Backhaul Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey

UPCOMING LEADERSHIP SCORECARDS

• Enterprise Communications Equipment Vendor Leadership Scorecard
• Telecommunications Equipment Vendor Leadership Scorecard

TO BUY REPORTS AND SURVEYS, CONTACT SALES:

N. America (West), Asia, Latin America: Larry Howard, [e-mail], [phone]

N. America (East), Texas, Midwest: Scott Coyne, [e-mail], [phone]

Europe, Middle East, Africa: George Stojsavljevic, [e-mail], [phone]

Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

ABOUT INFONETICS

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively. View Infonetics’ About Us slides at http://bit.ly/QUrbrV.