[Yankee Group]: "half of the 4G operators to use femtocells"

 

A new research by Chris Nicoll from the Yankee Group covers the femtocell deployment plans:

"It has taken a few years, but femtocell’s time may just be around the corner .. We expect over half of the 4G operators to use femtocells to reduce the capex cost of a new 4G network by 2016 ..  femto’s are being embraced by the key operators, including AT&T, Vodaphone and Softbank, and the service, cost and deployment challenges are well within the control of the operators themselves"

See "Femto’s time is finally coming" - here and here.

"However, in dealing with consumer preference of off-load technologies, there seems to be a gap.  The MNO survey respondents expressed a 2:1 preference for using femtocells for offload and home services, as opposed to Wi-Fi alone. Wi-Fi routers may be cheaper, and user acceptance even greater, but MNOs prefer the increased control of user experience and consumer spend  ... It does not help that in a comparison of the benefits of femtocell vs. Wi-Fi, the femto’s strong points are heavily weighted toward carriers rather than consumers"

See also "Ovum Mobile Revenue CAGR Forecast (2009-2015): Data +11%, Voice -1.4%" - here.