Femtocell launches continue through October

Operator news

Cosmote has launched a residential femtocell offering in Greece.  The 4-user Huawei device costs €90, and is branded ‘Perfect Mark’.

Vodafone has launched a femtocell for business customers in the Netherlands. The ‘SinaalPlus’ device is actually a Huawei 4-user residential femtocell, but home users will have to wait until mid-2012 to get their hands on one.

Meanwhile, Vodafone in Hungary has announced that its recently launched ‘Mini Bázis’ residential femtocell offering is now available to its corporate customers.

SFR has confirmed that it is offering its femtocell free of charge to all its mobile subscribers.  The €49 (or is that €49m?) price is refunded upon first activation.  For customers with the new Neufbox Evolution home gateway, the femtocell is available as a USB connected add-on.   David Chambers points out that the move is a “pre-emptive competitive strike against Illiad“, which has also announced a free 3G femtocell integrated with its upcoming Freebox Revolution set-top box.

Bouygues has also talked publicly about femtocells recently, but expects to use them only for LTE.  CEO Olivier Roussat told journalists “For LTE, the femtocell will allow us to improve coverage in buildings significantly”.

SoftBank says it will embed SkyHook’s positioning technology into its femtocells.  The technology (which combines Wi-Fi, cellular, and GPS readings) will help the operator obtain accurate location information for its femtocells in Japan.  Light Reading’s Michelle Donegan reports that SoftBank has installed 60,000 free femtocells for its residential customers.

Analysts probe small cell backhaul

Mobile Experts has announced a new report, which forecasts 1.8 million small cell wireless backhaul shipments in 2016, with associated revenues of $1.5 billion (so that’s just under $1000 per installation).

ABI Research has carried out similar research, concluding that 58% of outdoor small cells will be backhauled using wireless techniques by 2016.

Vendor announcements

• ip.access launches 8-user C-class residential femtocell access point
• ip.access incorporates Acme Packet security gateway into its end-to-end femto solution
• SpiderCloud launches its enterprise femtocell cluster solution (yet again)…
• …but established femto vendors are not greatly impressed
• Airvana claims femto revenue leadership for 2Q11 in Infonetics’ latest survey
• Cavium launches small cell chipset
• NSN and Ubiquisys target China
• Qualcomm recommends Mobile Assisted Range Tuning and other femto interference mitigation techniques
• BelAir announces big plans for small cells

In other news…

• RCR Wireless examines small cells
• UK government to spend £150 million subsidising mobile phone coverage
• Picochip calculates that London needs 70,000 small cells by 2015
• The Guardian reports on small cells
• Steve Brightfield explains how small cells help alleviate the mobile data explosion
• Rob Riordan also believes in small cells
• But France Telecom says it’s mobile offload strategy will be based on Wi-Fi  
• Sweden proposes licence exempt spectrum for GSM phones (just like in Holland)

A summer’s worth of femtocell developments

Operator news

Optus has officially launched its 3G Home Zone femtocell offering in Australia, sparking the familiar media debate about whether customers should be asked to pay for coverage at home as well as some FUD about emergency calls not working if the fixed broadband backhaul is unavailable.  Lots of reviews and end-user reports are appearing on the web.  Strangely, page 4 of the user guide states that the 3G Home Zone requires some 3G coverage in order to work (this should not be the case for a femtocell, of course).

Responding to the competitive threat from Optus, Telstra’s CTO Hugh Bradlow has stepped up his war on femtocells with some controversial comments in the media.  David Chambers provides a nice round-up of the femtocell market in Australia here.

September’s China Femtocell Symposium created lots of buzz, with China Mobile announcing it is working with multiple vendors to deploy TD-SCDMA femtocells.

SFR has started offering the USB-connected Ubiquisys femtocell (recently renamed “SFR Femto” free to business customers, (and perhaps also residential customers?).  However, its femtocell has also been compromised by a hacker attack.

In Russia, Alcatel-Lucent has announced that Vimpelcom (Beeline) will deploy its femtocell solution in the Northwest region.  Meanwhile, Megafon is installing femto / picocells with satellite backhaul on ships, and is also offering femtocells to business customers (here’s a picture of one).

According to CTO Jagbir Singh, Airtel is replacing repeaters with (ip.access) picocells in India, as well as trialling 3G femtocells.

T-Mobile US is launching an in-home signal booster (repeater).

Market data

In August, ip.access announced 500,000 3G Access Points deployed in homes, offices and public indoor locations.

IDATE’s 4^th edition of its Femtocells report forecasts 39.4 million deployed units by 2015, with ip.access named as the vendor with the greatest market success.

ABI Research is predicting that half of the revenues from femtocell security gateways (I think they actually mean femto gateways / access controllers) will come from enterprise deployments, and that the outdoor picocell market will reach $8 billion by 2016.

Maravedis expects the small cell market to expand in earnest in 2012, and reach up to $5 billion by 2014. Analyst Fernando Donoso provides an interesting perspective on femtocells, picocells and Wi-Fi here.

Infonetics Research has released its 2Q11 femtocell equipment market share report, forecasting a $2.98 billion market by 2015.  4G femtocells are expected to take off rapidly once they are available, but 3G shipments will dominate for some years.  Infonetics has also conducted an operator survey, finding that femto-enabled services are part of the long-term plans of many operators, even though the current focus is still mainly on using femtocells to enhance coverage and capacity.

Vendor announcements

• QCOM announces 32 user CDMA femto chipset and Wi-Fi-integrated femto designs based on Atheros…
• …and promotes its UltraSON interference management technology (video here)
• Freescale samples its QorIQ Qonverge femto / picocell “base station-on-chip” products
• Broadcom acquires basestation chipset firm NetLogic
• Picochip and ASTRI announce LTE small cell reference design
• ip.access announces African distributor
• Ubiquisys sponsors SoftBank Hawks baseball team
• Taqua acquires Tatara
• Cambridge Consultants announced Picochip-based ‘Sidewinder’ 2G/3G small cell platform
• Airspan announces LTE metro cell
• Sercomm says it’s building TD-SDCMA femtocells

In other news…

• Did Vodafone accidentally reveal iPhone 5 specs on its Sure Signal page?
• Senza Fili’s Monica Paolini explains why small cells are critically important as mobile data moves indoors
• Zahid Ghadialy discusses recent femto hacking incidents
• Matt Hatton doesn’t want to be offloaded
• David Chambers contemplates TI’s approach to the small cell market
• BBC crowd-sourcing survey finds poor 3G coverage in the UK
• AT&T will throttle unlimited smartphone data
• US networks are at 80% of capacity
• Don’t forget 2G data! (Vodafone’s new 555 Facebook phone)
• Survey shows coverage is a must-have for new homes
• IET criticises LTE rollout plans
• Why LTE needs picocells
• Cambridge Broadband gives the big picture on small cell backhaul
• ip.access, Picochip and Ubiquisys feature in the Sunday Times
• Video of panel session from Cambridge Wireless small cells event
• Battlefield Connect goes to war

New opportunities for femtocells

Operator news

Vodafone in the Czech Republic has announced its ‘Private 3G Zone’ femtocell (supplied by Alcatel-Lucent).  The ‘Private 3G Zone’ will cost CZK 3,377 (just under $200).

French triple-play operator Free will offer free femtocells when it launches its 3G mobile service in January 2012.  The operator is expected to integrate the femtocell into its Freebox Revolution set-top box.  Interestingly, the company’s founder Xavier Niel is pitching to subscribers who are worried about the possible health effects of radio waves, claiming that the femtocell reduces exposure.  Hmmm.

Also in France, SFR has launched its USB-connected femtocell.  One subscriber reports better data performance with the new box.

Telecom Italia has announced a software development kit for creating femtocell apps.  The Italian operator has developed the Java SDK for Android phones, PCs and application servers with Alcatel-Lucent and Accenture.  It is based on the Femto Forum’s API specification.

Vodafone Greece has managed to achieve its five year femtocell business case only 11 months after launch, according to the company’s New Products and Innovation Manager Polychronos Tzeferos.  Speaking at the Femtocells World Summit, Tzeferos explained that the femtocell reduced customers’ propensity to churn reduced from 65% to 8%, and that 99% of users would recommend the femtocell to a friend.

Femtocells World Summit – now that the dust has settled…

The industry was in an up-beat mood going into last month’s World Summit, with the news that femtocells significantly outnumber macro cells worldwide (2.3 million vs. 1.6 million, to be exact).  Informa published its latest market status report, noting that there are now 31 commercial femtocell services around the globe (over 60% growth in the past quarter).

David Chambers summarised each day’s proceedings at the conference, while Light Reading provided a report on what the operator speakers said.  Key themes included metro / public access and enterprise deployments (and their different requirements compared to residential), along with persistent calls for operators to deploy in larger volume now that technical and commercial barriers have been overcome.

There was also much discussion of comparisons between ‘Cloud RAN’ (which brings the baseband processing into the cloud, connected to low-cost radio heads via high-speed fibre) and the more femto-like ‘Edge Cloud’ (which pushes intelligence into Access Points at the edge of the network).  The case for the Edge Cloud (including metro femtocells) is lower OPEX (based on standard IP links to connect the APs to the core network).

Some outside observers remained cool on the market, despite the generally upbeat operator presentations and positive buzz at the event.  Kevin Fitchard at Connected Planet considers 2.3 million femtocells ‘a tiny number’, and DSL Reports thinks the industry is ‘scratching its head as to why femtocells have faltered’.

More balanced assessments from ABI’s Aditya Kaul and ITBusinessEdge’s Carl Weinschenk give the industry a mixed report, while GigaOM and The Register suggest (mistakenly) that the femto industry is abandoning the residential market to focus on new metro opportunities.

Winners of the Femtocell Industry Awards were announced, with ‘Femtocell Network Element Design and Technology Innovation’ going to ip.access for its OysterCatcher™ solution.  OysterCatcher optimises RF performance in large scale femtocell deployments (more here).  Attendees at the gala dinner raised a few glasses to their technical colleagues working through the night at the Femto Forum’s third Plugfest, hosted by France Telecom.

Femto hacking

Hackers have compromised Vodafone Sure Signal femtocell.  This particular hack is old news, and Vodafone fixed the problem back in 2010.  However, the hackers are now blustering that femtocells are still ‘in principle’ insecure by virtue of supposed deficiencies in 3GPP femtocell standards.  The row is even reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Vendor announcements

• ip.access launches its E16 and E24 Access Points targeted at enterprise and public access femto deployments.
• Alcatel-Lucent announces that it will port its femtocell software to Broadcom’s residential gateway reference platform.
• D-Link announces it is developing femtocells based on Qualcomm’s FSM chipset.
• Picochip, Interdigital demo simultaneous femto / Wi-Fi data on dual-radio gateway.
• CCPU launches Femtotality second generation femto software.
• Ubiquisys emphasises that it is still working with Broadcom for residential femtocells (despite its recent partnership announcement with TI for metro).
• TI gives details of its metro femto chips.
• Cavium, CCPU and Picochip show LTE small cell demo…

In other news…

• ABI survey finds 80% of mobile users unaware of femtocells in US, UK and Japan.
• KDDI commissions Ruckus Wireless to build a 100,000 AP Wi-Fi network…
• …US carriers follow a similar strategy of building out Wi-Fi networks to offload mobile data traffic from smartphones.
• Cisco’s Mark Grayson explains converged Wi-Fi / femtocell architectures.
• The pros and cons of small cells.
• Manish Singh discusses LTE femtocells, Cloud RAN, Edge Cloud etc.
• See what’s inside Vodafone’s Sure Signal femtocell…
• ALU publishes business case for metro femtocells.
• David Cleevely says operators will drag their heels on femtocells until later this year.
• Verizon introduces usage based data tariffs, and considers other billing models.
• A brief history of in-flight Wi-Fi.

Femtocells maintain momentum as we head into next week’s World Summit

Operator news ahead of the Femtocells World Summit

Orange Romania has launched its Extra Signal enterprise femtocell for business customers (announced previously).  The device supports 16 voice calls and data speeds up to 7.2 Mbps.  Strangely, Extra Signal provides coverage over only 800 square metres, which means it has a range of only about 16 m (much less than a typical residential femtocell).  16 voice channels provides 8.85 Erlangs of capacity (assuming 1% blocking), which is enough for about 180 people (assuming 50 mErl per person).  Looks like the device is designed for rather crowded locations!

SKT is updating its data femtocell.  The new 2FA device will support 16 users and have both integrated Wi-Fi and 42 Mbps HSPA+ data speeds (dual carrier) based on Picochip technology.  (Clearly this is a forward-looking announcement.)

Zain has announced that it will launch enterprise and residential femtocell services in Kuwait this year based on NEC’s femtocell solution.

Indian operator Aircel says it will use femtocells for in-building coverage as it rolls out its 3G network.  Bharti Airtel is also reported to be evaluating femtocells in India.

Vodafone Netherlands believes that femtocells are “a logical addition” to the mobile network, according to the company’s head of mobile networks and service platforms, Rene Herlaar, speaking at the Mobiel NL conference in Amsterdam.

Camillo Carlini from Telecom Italia’s Home Network and Handset Engineering group will tell the Femtocells World Summit next week that “femtocell applications can make an immediate impact on people’s lives“.

T-Mobile US has made its UMA-based Wi-Fi calling service free.  It has also proposed the service to the FCC as a solution for emergency workers in disaster operations.  Meanwhile, Orange UK says its own Wi-Fi calling service, Signal Boost, is carrying “millions of calls every month” [sounds more impressive than it is – do the maths].

The UK Mobile Review tested Vodafone’s Sure Signal femtocell, and asked the other UK operators about their plans for femtocells.  T-Mobile said it “wouldn’t be rushed into a decision,” whilst O2 have “no further information at this time”.

Thailand’s new entrant mobile operator TOT says it used 2G femtocells with satellite backhaul to re-establish communications quickly after April’s floods, which affected 2 million people.

Cisco / ip.access leads 3G femtocell market, says Infonetics

In its latest femtocell equipment market share report for 1Q11, Infonetics Research forecasts that the market will hit $300 million in 2011.  Cisco and ip.access have the leading market share in 3G femtocells based on the world’s largest femtocell deployment with AT&T in North America.

Vendor announcements

ip.access has launched OysterCatcher, a diagnostic tool for optimising femtocell radio performance.  As well as enabling field issues to be fixed rapidly, OysterCatcher also provides key data for enhancing the algorithms used by the femtocell Access Point to manage radio resources and optimise performance automatically, aiding the development of true Self Organising and adaptive networks of femtocells.

Ubiquisys has announced a collaboration with Intel for caching content locally at femtocell Access Points.  Intel chips will be used to build a content delivery network into small cells at the edge of the network so that popular content can be cached at cell sites.  For example, a video of a goal could be cached at a cell in a football stadium to save backhaul bandwidth when spectators download it.

Elsewhere, AirWalk’s EdgePoint Pron has become the first femtocell to incorporate Qualcomm’s UltraSON technology for minimising radio network interference, and the bizarrely named ‘Wazco’ has come out of stealth mode to announce an LTE metro femtocell.

In other news…

• If you think enterprise and residential femtocells are basically the same, think again…
• Telstra argues in favour of in-flight GSM (using the terrestrial network).
• The Femto Forum outlines LTE femtocell architecture options.
• Picochip claims 80% of the femto chip market.
• Rupert Baines explains metro femtocells.
• Etherlive uses Vodafone femtocell to provide coverage at events.
• IBW interviews Morten Tolstrup.
• Steve Costello on femtocells.
• Nice review of AT&T’s 3G MicroCell.
• Mobile operators will spend $67 billion on Basestation deployments in 2011…
• …but Analysys Mason thinks operators may be spending more than they need to in anticipation of faster data growth than will actually transpire.
• Dean Bubley says “the telco-isation of WiFi is starting to look quite Machiavellian and unrealistic”.
• OMG!  The World Health Organisation classifies cellphones as “possibly carcinogenic”!  Kenneth Foster explains why you shouldn’t get too worried.

 

It’s getting harder to keep track of all these femtocell launches

Vodafone launches femtocells in Italy, Hungary and Australia

Vodafone Italy has launched the Vodafone Booster in both 4-user ($240) and 8-user ($780) versions for residential and business customers respectively.  These look like the same Alcatel-Lucent devices launched by Vodafone New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Hungary has launched its Mini Bázis femtocells (mini base stations), which look exactly like the Italian versions but at cheaper prices ($157 and $610 for residential and business variants).

Down under, Optus’ femtocell launch continues to be hotly debated.  Vodafone Australia has responded by going public with its Vodafone Expand offering.  Just like in Italy and Hungary, there are two femtocells available.  However, both versions appear to be targeted at business customers, and the devices are built by Huawei rather than Alcatel-Lucent.  Hand-in from the macro network is not supported, but handover between Large Expanders is available.  The femtocells operate in open access mode, and Optus warns its customers that they will need to “pay for all associated fixed broadband data usage, whether incurred by your employees or not”.  CEO Nigel Dews told ZDNet Australia that the company had opted for a quiet launch to ensure that it got the technology right.

MegaFon launches femtocells in Moscow

Russian operator MegaFon has announced that it will install its ‘Minicells’ (femtocells supplied by Alcatel-Lucent) free of charge in Moscow for residential and business customers who experience “weak in-building mobile signal”.  But wait a minute; didn’t Megafon announce a femtocell contract with NEC back in February?  David Chambers’ Think Femtocell blog provides the explanation: MegaFon has selected three vendors to deploy live femtocell systems in different regions “with a view to full understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each”.

Orange begins marketing its Couverture Site Confort

After toying with Ubiquisys enterprise femtocells for some time, Orange France is finally advertising the Couverture Site Confort service on its website.  Ubiquisys’ Keith Day comments that although the service is “low-key”, it is nonetheless significant given that France Telecom is one of the world’s leading operator groups.

Reinforcing this view, at a press conference held on May 12 in Bucharest, Orange Romania announced its ‘Extra Signal’ femtocell (click the link and scroll down for a video).  The system overview picture is the same as the one on the Orange France website, but the femtocell itself looks different – possibly a Huawei box rather than a Ubiquisys one?

More operator news

AT&T CTO John Donovan says his company is spending big on its 3G MicroCells (ie femtocells).  At the VentureBeat Mobile Summit, Donovan said “The amount of capital that we’re putting into [femtocells] is more than any other carrier as far as I’m aware”.  But he also said that femtocells are not a cure-all solution for network ills.  DeadZones reports that AT&T now has “350,000 3G MicroCells on their network compared to 256,000 cell phone towers”.

AT&T also announced its Remote Mobility Zone designed to restore mobile service after natural disasters.  The 2G picocell-based system handles up to 14 simultaneous calls within a half-mile radius, and uses a satellite connection for backhaul.

MoldTelecom will offer its Unite femtocell for free to customers who spend more than 150 Moldovan Leu ($13) on mobile services each month.

Korea’s SK Telecom is planning for early development of LTE femtocells to enhance underground and indoor coverage.

And finally, according to Twitter, O2 UK will soon expand its staff-only Indoor Coverage Trial to the public.  Here’s a photo of the femtocell box.

In other news…

• Femtocells are growing up
• Femtocells feature in The Independent (This is the paper that ludicrously blamed bee colony collapse on mobile phones.)
• Small cell hard sell
• Broadcasters pin hopes on femtocells
• David Chambers gives his thoughts on femtocell ODMs
• Frost & Sullivan publishes World Femtocell and Picocell Market report
• Gartner says Argela femtocells are “cool”
• Motorola and BelAir collaborate on metro femto
• RadiSys buys CCPU
• AirWalk highlights its small cell solutions
• Ubiquisys partners with TI for dual mode 3G/LTE small cells
• Mom Central reviews the AT&T 3G MicroCell
• Vodafone UK offers Sure Signal femtocell for £20 (limited time only)
• Ofcom says 4G won’t solve data issues…ZDNet says Wi-Fi & femtocells will.

Optus femto pilot divides opinion down under

Optus femto pilot divides opinion down under

It’s déjà vu all over again!  Optus’ 3G Home Zone femtocell pilot launch in Australia is attracting the same debate in the media as when AT&T launched its 3G MicroCell in the US.  Some press and analysts are outraged at the idea that consumers should be required to pay for a femtocell, and accuse Optus of asking customers to subsidise fixes for its network blackspots.  However, IT Wire is equally outraged by the media criticism, mounting a robust defence of the femtocell concept.

The Optus femtocell costs $60-$240 (Australian) depending on which mobile service plan the subscriber is on, and is currently available in 13 retail stores across Australia.  The design is the same as the original Vodafone Sure Signal access point.

Vodafone Australia is also piloting a femtocell offering called Vodafone Expand, targeting both consumer and business customers.  But competitor Telstra remains out in the cold (see also these comments from CTO Hugh Bradlow at MWC).

Recent femtocell developments elsewhere in Asia

Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan announced last month that it has finished its initial procurement of femtocells and will provide the devices to businesses and heavy data users for free as a way of offloading data traffic from its network.  However, at this month’s Femtocells Asia conference the company said it is still facing regulatory and technical issues, including problems with handovers and interference.  Chunghwa also wants the industry to target a $50 price point.

Vodafone New Zealand commented at Femtocells Asia that a lack of seamless two-way handover with its Sure Signal femtocell has disappointed its business customers, highlighting the fact that enterprise femtocells / picocells have different requirements from their residential counterparts.  (You can read more about this in ip.access’ white paper, ‘Creating Flexibility for Small Cells’.)

U Mobile has announced a partnership with Alcatel-Lucent to pilot femtocells in Malaysia.  The operator is also planning to introduce a variety of femto-enabled services, including ‘single family number’ and ‘family alerts’.  Here’s a round-up of other femtocell deployments market in Asia.

Operator news from the rest of the world

Sprint has deployed 250,000 femtocells, according to the company’s VP of Network Development and Engineering, Iyad Tarazi, speaking at the CTIA conference last month.  Sprint was the first operator in the world to launch femtocells back in 2007.

On the back of Sprint’s volumes, a new Infonetics Research report lists Samsung as the leading femtocell vendor.  However, the report does not include the world’s largest femtocell deployment, AT&T’s 3G MicroCell (supplied by Cisco and ip.access).

Speaking of America’s soon-to-be largest operator, there is no truth in Gadget Geek’s April fool story that AT&T is forcing all smartphone subscribers to use a 3G MicroCell – although the operator continues to give its femtocell away in significant volumes.

Vodafone UK says that it delayed the launch of One Net Express (a Fixed Mobile Substitution proposition for business customers) until its 3G cordless desk phone was able to work with its Sure Signal femtocell.  Sure Signal recently won a Mobile News Innovative Product award, and BT is reported to be reselling its own branded version of Sure Signal under its MVNO agreement with Vodafone.

Network Norway’s business femtocell offering has appeared on the operator’s website, under the brand “Full Dekning” (full coverage).

Femto Forum publishes femto services API

The Femto Forum’s Services SIG has published a set of standardised APIs to enable software developers to build femto-enabled apps and services.  The API allows third party applications on the Internet to trigger alerts and other events based on the presence of a handset within a femtozone.  The API extends the GSMA’s existing OneAPI framework, which currently provides access to SMS, MMS, location and payment information to third parties.

Other femto news…

• Juniper Research forecasts 63% of smartphone traffic will be carried by femtocells and Wi-Fi by 2015.
• FCC keeps the door open for private repeaters.
• Air New Zealand to start in-flight GSM service with OnAir.
• Femtocells aid disaster recovery.
• Femto Forum makes a splash at CTIA – here’s a report from the press conference.
• CableLabs consortium issues RFI for strand-mounted picocells.
• StarHub CEO confirms interest in femtocells.
• AT&T looking to small-cell architecture to cope with data influx.

Opinion…

• Maggie thinks T-Mobile will stop UMA service after AT&T merger.
• Todd Mersch’s review of the Femtocells Asia conference.
• Manish Singh provides his thoughts on LTE (TDD for femto, FDD for macro).
• Maravedis says there’s big money in femtocells.
• David Chambers tells us all about Moldtelecom.
• Interview with Cisco’s Lisa Garza at CTIA.
• Here’s where to deploy metro femto.
• Femtocells on the London underground?  (Not sure it’s quite as easy as that.)
• Small cells are getting bigger.
• Femtocells – the next wave.
• Ovum tracks SoftBank femto.
• Kevin Taylor’s thoughts from MWC.
• Nice review of the AT&T 3G MicroCell. And another.  One more.
• And this one is from Everything Sysadmin.
• Out of the box, activated, and working within 15 minutes!

Vendor announcements…

• Several articles about Simon Brown’s arrival as the new CEO at ip.access
• NASH and Picochip collaborate on femto testing.
• Netgear announces its second generation femtocell.
• HSL signs distribution partner in Africa.  Any customers yet?
• Ubiquisys April fool.
• Juni selects CCPU.
• Huawei touts small cells.
• Picochip PC333 chip hits volume production and launches PC3008 chip.
• Powerwave LTE pico wins 2^nd prize.
• BridgeWave offers Gigabit picocell wireless backhaul system.
• BelAir announces integrated LTE metro femto / W-Fi product.
• NSN announces Liquid Radio ‘small cell’ solution.

Operators go femto crazy

Operators go femto crazy

Alcatel Lucent has announced that Telefónica (Movistar) will deploy its femtocells for residential and business customers in Spain.  (This is interesting, as Movistar has already launched a residential femtocell with Huawei.)

Megafon has selected NEC to provide a residential and enterprise femtocell solution.

Network Norway’s femtocell service has finally launched.

Vodafone Ireland has put up a website for its femtocell service, which is now available through the operator’s retail stores (review here).  The product is available to Vodafone DSL customers for €49 (or €99 to other customers).  FAQ’s available here.  picoChip claims its chip is inside.

AT&T has begun its free femtocell offer, as seen here.  Customers seem to like it.  (This happy customer was able to get a free femtocell despite not being included in the offer.)

Du has confirmed that it is planning a commercial femtocell rollout in the UAE in 3Q11 with Alcatel Lucent.

Zain has selected Alcatel-Lucent for a femtocell trial in Saudi Arabia.

Partner Communications may offer Israel’s first femtocell service with Alcatel-Lucent.  (Competitor Pelephone is believed to have tested femtocell products from Nokia Siemens Networks.)

T-Mobile US has said that 5 million subscribers use its Wi-Fi calling service, and has reiterated that it has no plans for 3G femtocells.

Orange’s VP for Network Architecture and Design, Alain Maloberti, remains sceptical about femtocells (although his reasoning appears to be remarkably uninformed).  Telstra’s CTO Hugh Bradlow also reveals himself as a femto unbeliever.

The latest Informa femtocell market status report highlights the fact that femtocell deployments have more than doubled in the past 12 months.

Small cells are big

Several macro network vendors have announced new RAN products which acknowledge the trend towards small cells and data traffic offload.  Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio solution is perhaps the most radical.  Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced a Wi-Fi offload solution.  Even Ericsson has succumbed to the logic of small cells with its Antenna Integrated Radio.  Jan Häglund, VP of Ericsson’s networks business unit, talked up the HetNet strategy, and even used the word ‘picocell’ in an interview with Mobile Europe.

Other vendor announcements…

• Freescale enters the femto market with its QorIQ Qonverge basestation-on-chip portfolio…
• …Airvana announces itself the first customer for QorIQ Qonverge.
• Mindspeed demos LTE small cell silicon solution.
• Octasic introduces platform for HSPA+ pico / femto.
• ip.access partner SiRRAN supplies Florida National Guard with emergency GSM phone network.
• Airspan and ip.access collaborate on 2G and 4G outdoor pico RAN.
• Roshan deploys the Airspan / ip.access solution in Afghanistan.
• Alcatel Lucent announces a metro femto product (David Chambers gives the details).
• Tecore announces “All-In-One 3G-4G Enterprise Femtocell System”.
• Powerwave announces combined LTE / Wi-Fi picocell.
• CCPU supports Qualcomm FSM femto chipset.
• picoChip demonstrates LTE femtocell…
• …and introduces next generation PC3008 femtocell chip.
• AirWalk, Mindspeed and Lime Microsystems collaborate on LTE small cells.

• Ubiquisys shows off G3 micro-mini (is that the ‘attocell’ positioned as a conventional femto?) and other femto products at MWC.
• Ubiquisys and CTTC collaborate on LTE network simulator.
• Ubiquisys leverages Akamai for software download (huh??)
• Tecom builds femto AP.
• NEC collaborates with Aricent for Indian femtocell business.
• Netgear announces second generation MF100H femto AP.
• Argela integrates AirHop SON technology.
• ip.access and Ubiquisys amongst the 25 hottest mobile companies.

In other news…

• The second Femto Forum / ETSI femtocell plugfest was successfully completed.
• MCI examines femtocells (see page 22).
• Telecoms.com interview with yours truly at MWC.
• Femtocells move into the enterprise.
• Fierce Wireless failed to notice the buzz around femtocells and offload at MWC…
• …other analysts saw femtocells and offload as one of the hottest topics.
• ABI says the femto market is still inhibited by legislation.
• No more cell towers?
• Earl Lum thinks Wi-Fi beats femto.
• David Chambers’ MWC femto preview…and roundup.
• Picocells & DAS belong together.
• Craig Mathias takes a second look at femto
• Lessons from flying and floating picocells (pretty much an ip.access monopoly).
• Cisco has updated its Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast.
• Tellabs says data growth will kill telco profits in 3 years.

Vodafone launches more femtocell services

Vodafone launches more commercial femtocell services

Vodafone has launched its Sure Signal femtocell in New Zealand in residential (4-user) and enterprise (8-user) flavours – both supplied by Alcatel-Lucent.  The residential unit costs NZD 349 (close to the original £160 UK price tag before it was reduced to £50 last year), with the enterprise device costing 3 times as much.  A Vodafone broadband connection is required, but otherwise the consumer proposition is very similar to the UK version.  According to one early review, the device works well (apart from a few issues with the plug’n’play provisioning).

Elsewhere, it’s reported that Vodafone Italy has launched an 8-user femtocell called the Vodafone Booster, and Light Reading lists Vodafone Ireland as another femtocell launch.

AT&T to give away femtocells

Engadget reports that AT&T will offer its 3G MicroCell free to the “top 7.5% of 3G wireless customers identified as likely to experience poor in-building coverage at home or in small offices”.  At the same time, AT&T is increasing the regular price of the MicroCell from $150 to $200.

Other operator news

Verizon Wireless is also reported to be giving away femtocells to carefully selected customers.  Meanwhile, a rumour spread that T-Mobile is set to launch femtocells in the US this year, but this was later denied by the company.

O2 admitted to running femtocell trials in the UK.  The company has also launched a programme to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots for both customers and non-customers alike.  The aim of the Wi-Fi project is to help offload smartphone data traffic (although apparently only 20% of people who have access to free public Wi-Fi on O2 tariffs actively use it).

ip.access launches S8 office femtocell

ip.access has announced an 8-user 3G femtocell designed for offices, shops and other indoor hotspots.  Unlike residential femtocells, the S8 can support open access, two-way handover with the macro network and real-time alarms (similar to the company’s E class picocells).  ip.access also released a white paper, ‘Creating Flexibility for Small Cells’, explaining the significant differences between enterprise / public access deployments of femtocells compared to residential deployments.

April fool’s day comes early for Ubiquisys

Ubiquisys created a stir by announcing their attocell (a personal femtocell with a 5 mm coverage radius designed to help business travellers circumvent roaming charges).  It’s rather like the MagicJack femtocell (which had similar aspirations to circumvent licensing restrictions by operating at low power) – except that Ubiquisys proposes to work with operators instead of around them.  But it’s hard to imagine operators risking potentially illegal use of their roaming partners’ spectrum, even if subscribers can be persuaded to buy into the idea of 5 mm coverage.  So could this be another exciting-sounding announcement that lacks commercial reality (remember the FON femtocell, anyone)?  Or perhaps it’s another attocell April fool’s joke which slipped out a few weeks early.

In other news…

• ABI says femto apps are key to success.
• Review of the FemtoZone at CES.
• “We’ll continue to encourage… development and deployment of femtocells” (FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at CES.
• Mobile Experts report says small cells will dominate 4G.
• CNN Money on femtocells.
• Femtocells are an emerging wave.
• Femtocells set for a good year.
• picoChip, CCPU, Ixia collaborate on LTE.
• Femtocells in New York Times.
• picoChip welcomes competition (yeah, right!)
• Network sharing – good or bad for femtocell market?
• Mark Hay hints at something or other that HSL might do.

Femtocell market update for the last few weeks

Operator news

UAE-based telecoms operator Du is deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s 9360 Small Cell (femtocell) technology.

Vodafone New Zealand is preparing to start femtocell trials ahead of a launch in 2011.  (We’ve known for months that the operator has plans for femtocells, but this is the first time we’ve seen dates.)

SKT has started promoting its new data femtocell – here’s a picture.

Verizon has said that it might not need LTE femtocells for the next few years because it has plenty of spectrum to play with.  But Current Analysis’ Peter Jarich says it’s “nearly certain” that operators will eventually deploy small cells in their LTE networks.  (Meanwhile, some analysts are saying that LTE is not currently economically viable, and that HSPA networks will dominate for many years to come.)

French broadband and 3G operator Free has launched its Freebox Revolution offering.  No sign of an embedded femtocell, despite the reports from a year ago.

Comprehensive femtocell consumer research published

Parks Associates has published findings from its research on consumer attitudes to femtocells in six countries (US, Japan, China, UK, Spain and Germany). The study concludes that nearly 60% of broadband households with mobile phones are interested in femtocells (increasing to 83% amongst heavy mobile Wi-Fi users).  Femtocells could prevent up to 42% of consumers currently considering leaving their operator from doing so.  More details here.

Analyst views and 2011 femto predictions

Informa Telecoms & Media’s latest quarterly market status report highlights deployment commitments by six operators in the last quarter of 2010, and concludes that the femtocell market is set for renewed growth in 2011.

Maravedis predicts that operators will boost the adoption of femtocells across the world more quickly than originally anticipated, but femtocell pricing will continue to be a barrier for widespread adoption.

Peter Jarich expects more residential femtocell launches based on a voice coverage/quality value proposition.  Operators will deploy small cells outside the home as they look to make the most of their spectrum resources, he says.

Fierce Wireless quotes a couple of notoriously sceptical operators, and says that femtocells are “still a waiting game”.

Dean Bubley gives femtocells a 7 out of 10 success rating for 2011.  He says “the femto concept has been hugely validated by a number of high-profile launches”, and forecasts “steady progress” in 2011, with increased focus on public access small cell deployments for capacity and offload.

Analysys Mason’s Terry Norman sees indoor mobile data usage growing rapidly (over 85% of all mobile data traffic), and spots an opportunity for fixed line operators.

The AT&T 3G MicroCell was listed by MSNBC amongst its “worst tech of 2010” (but only because they think it should be free).

David Chambers gives femtocells As and Bs in his 2010 report card.

Femtocells for all US public buildings?

Two US Senators have proposed new legislation which would require Wi-Fi and femtocells to be installed in all 9,000 US public federal buildings by 2014. Senator Olympia Snowe is quoted as saying, “Given that approximately 60% of mobile Internet use and 40% of cell phone calls are completed indoors, utilizing technologies such as Wi-Fi and femtocells will dramatically improve coverage.”

Iub for small cells?

picoChip has announced that its PC333 chip will support a traditional Iub network architecture as well as the femto Iuh interface.  Iub provides some advantages for public access small cell deployments (e.g. support for soft handover), but the traditional architecture requires higher grade IP backhaul and does nothing to help offload data signalling traffic from the RNCs (a major problem for operators caused by smartphone applications).  picoChip says the PC333 can be combined with the PC500 chip to create a dual-mode LTE/HSPA+ femtocell.

Snap-on USB femtocells

Following SFR’s announcement that its neufbox Evolution home gateway will come with an optional bolt-on femtocell, Ubiquisys has been promoting its “snap-on femtocell” which connects to a home gateway or Wi-Fi router via USB.  picoChip has taken this one step further, claiming that it will soon be able to put a complete femtocell on a USB stick.  (Some commentators are sceptical about whether this is a sensible idea.)

In other news…

• Megafon & Aeroflot launch in-flight GSM (enabled by ip.access’ picocells).
• Building developer supplies femtocells to residents in 55 story tower.
• Sprint Airave doubles phone battery life!
• Softbank’s femtocell manual online.
• Simon Saunders makes Wireless Week predictions.
• CDG executive director says femtocells are just the beginning.
• David Chambers sees few barriers to scaling up femtocell supply.
• ThinkFemtocell video gallery.
• Interview with picoChip’s Doug Pulley.
• Ofcom allows UK operators to refarm 2G spectrum for 3G.
• Picocells to start creating extra capacity for 4G networks in 2011.
• Femtocell update from Taiwan.
• Korean femtocell patent applications are increasing (377 and counting).
• Peter Jarich tweet from Femtocells Americas: “ip.access – LTE femto BOM at ~$800 today. $100 by 2015. Argue the numbers but it shows some serious thought.”
• Stuart Carlaw tweet from CES “showstoppers event emailed attendees and asked us all to turn our Wi-Fi off due to crowded networks. Femto anyone?”
• NEC’s Anil Kohli eyes 30%-plus share of the Indian market for femtocells.
• Meanwhile, SiliconIndia explains why rapid mobile data growth in India will create an opportunity for small cells and Wi-Fi.
• NEC wins “Femtocell Vendor of the Year” in Telecom Asia Magazine’s readers choice awards. (Who would argue with actual readers?)
• Ubiquisys showcases femtocells at CES, including one with Wi-Fi embedded.
• Tecom makes femtocell with Ubiquisys technology inside.
• Arcadyan Technology expects to begin shipments of 3G femtocells to European operators in 1H11.
• Former FCC chairman Kevin Martin joins Airwalk board.
• Taitien Electronics to supply crystal oscillators to Taiwanese femtocell makers.
• picoChip & Wavesat complete testing of LTE chipset.
• Pulse provides on-line tool to identify electronic components for femtocells.
• Infonetics says 2G is “back in full force”.
• Peep Wireless proposes crazy idea at CES – this year’s femtoJack.

Femtocell market update for the weeks of 22 & 29 Nov 2010

Avea to launch femto service in Turkey

Turkish operator Avea will launch a femtocell service in Q3 2011 using femtocells from Argela (based on picoChip silicon).  This is the first announced femtocell win for Argela, which is owned by Avea’s parent company Turk Telekom.  picoChip claims Argela’s will be the first Iuh-based femtocell in the market (which is slightly odd, as picoChip claimed the same honour for Contela last month based on a forthcoming launch with SKT later this year).

Argela’s line-up of femtocell products includes residential, enterprise, and outdoor femtocells (although some analysts are sceptical about outdoor use).  The vendor is also promoting an application server for femtozone apps.

Other operator news

Vodafone has been testing its Sure Signal femtocells in open access mode.  According to CTO, Jeni Mundy, trials are underway to see if the femtocell could be used to improve coverage in public venues such as hotels.  Elsewhere, heavy snow in the UK has led to a 50% increase in Sure Signal calls, and one happy subscriber reported getting the Sure Signal box for free.

Further details of SFR’s femto-enabled Neufbox Evolution have emerged (including a promotional video).

A tweet from Nagarajan Gopalakrishnan tells of his chat with a TDC executive where he “got a glimpse of … Femto take of TDC“.  (TDC have been quiet on femtocells since their Feb 2009 announcement of a potential rollout with NEC, then scheduled for late 2009.)

At the SDR’10 conference in Washington DC, Verizon CTO Dick Lynch discussed the use of micro, pico and femtocells, as well as Wi-Fi, in future heterogeneous networks.  Meanwhile, analyst Peter Jarich summed up a two-week trial of Verizon’s Network Extender femtocell: “Setup = super easy.  Coverage enhancement = not as good as expected.”

Enterprise femtocells

As DigiTimes reports, femtocells are expanding into the enterprise market.  Current Analysis Research Director Peter Jarich says he prefers the term “small cells” (as coined by Alcatel-Lucent) to cover applications of femto technology beyond the home.  Peter’s view is that the term “picocell” would make sense, but that it “carries a connotation of strict operator control from a deployment and backhaul perspective.”  Ubiquisys has a similar view.  The idea with “small cells”, apparently, is that operators don’t have control.  I’m not so sure about this.  ip.access’ experience with picocells and femtocells in enterprises and public spaces is that operators absolutely do want to control these deployments.  Whether you call them picocells or enterprise femtocells, they need to be managed differently from residential femtocells.

Current Analysis survey of the femto ecosystem players

Current Analysis has updated its survey of the views of femtocell vendors.  Perhaps not too surprisingly, expectations for femto apps, LTE femtocells and Iuh femto deployments have slipped to the right compared to the previous survey in March.  Interestingly, the use of SIP as a femto integration technology has moved earlier (possibly due to CDMA femtocell deployments).

Further thoughts on femtocells and Wi-Fi

BBC reporter Rory Cellan-Jones has discovered just how easy it is to hack a Wi-Fi-connected smartphone.  “From now on,” he says, “I will be switching off the Wi-Fi button on my phone whenever I leave the security of my home or office network”.  Keith Day points out that femtocells don’t suffer from such security loopholes, so it looks like femtocells have an advantage – especially with some US cities backing away from their plans for free Wi-Fi.

But in case anyone thinks Wi-Fi is a goner, AT&T has followed the trend in launching a MiFi device (which creates a Wi-Fi hotspot using the 3G network to connect back to the Internet), and Orange has launched an Android UMA phone in the UK.

In other news…

• Stewart Baines sees a long tail of femtocell apps.
• Episode 2 of the femto soap is available at Wilson St.
• Report on the recent CDG / Femto Forum webinar.
• Mobile networks move indoors.
• Washington Post reports on smartphones and femtocells.
• Carriers “jealous of repeaters” (huh?).
• David Chambers shares some thoughts on the femto product lifecycle.
• The incredibly shrinking cellular network (part III).
• Stephen Rayment argues the case for small cells / picocells.
• Could Virgin Wi-Fi move herald small cell rollouts?
• LIPA, SIPTO and IFOM.
• Rewheel says volume caps will kill mobile data market growth.

Femtocell market update for the weeks of 8 & 15 Nov 2010

SFR’s ‘neufbox Evolution’ includes bolt-on femtocell option

SFR, which launched its ‘Home 3G’ femtocell service 12 months ago, has revealed an optional add-on femtocell module for its new neufbox Evolution home gateway (here’s a picture).  Pricing has not yet been announced for the module, which will be available in 1Q11.  Although the femtocell is not quite a fully integrated into the home gateway, Light Reading Mobile sees it as “a big step toward combining femtocells with the media and entertainment services available in the home”.

Moldtelecom announces femto service

Moldtelecom, the leading telecommunication company in Moldova, has announced a femtocell service offering cheaper mobile calls and data within the femtozone area.  The ‘Femtocell Unite’ service is available to subscribers with a fixed Moldtelecom DSL or fibre internet connection.

Strategy Analytics updates its femto forecast

Femtocell shipments are on track to reach almost 2 million units this year according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.  ‘Small is Beautiful: Femtocells Set To Grow with New Applications’ explores the future market for RF power amplifiers, transceivers and basebands in femtocells.  The report’s author, Christopher Taylor, believes “an increasing proportion of femtocells will go into small-to-medium sized enterprises and public access applications.”

Femto vendor news

Ubiquisys and Nokia Siemens Networks have announced a standards compliant WCDMA femtocell solution.  The two companies originally entered a partnership back in January 2008, but NSN had been working more closely with Airvana until the latter company’s withdrawal from the UMTS femto business.  The new solution supports both the Iuh protocol between the femtocell access point and the femto gateway, and the TR-069 / TR-196 specification for management.

Meanwhile, NEC has claimed 8 femtocell contracts worldwide.  The company also announced trials with unnamed operators in Singapore and India (where it sees femtocell revenues of $100 million over the next 2-3 years).

Broadcom has completed its acquisition of Percello.  In an interview with David Chambers at ThinkFemtocell, Broadcom’s Greg Fischer says that ODMs wanting cheaper femtocell application software have tried to build their own using commercial components, but that it will be several years before these solutions can compete with the leading femtocell specialists.

Fischer also believes “it’s just too soon to be starting on LTE femtocells”.  Alcatel Lucent’s  Chris Kapuscinski agrees; he thinks dual mode LTE / 3G small cells are still probably a couple of years away.

Finally, picoChip has moved to a new headquarters in Bath, completed a new $9 million debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank, and increased its engineering activities to focus on chipsets for 4G femtocells.

Repeaters vs femtos

The New York Times has highlighted CTIA’s request to the FCC for stricter regulation on repeaters, and highlights competition from the operators’ own femtocell offerings.  GigaOM suggests it’s hypocritical of CTIA to take repeater manufacturers’ money for exhibiting at its trade shows.  Meanwhile, one Twitter post suggests the FCC itself is confused about the difference between femtocells and repeaters: “FCC just informed me that it’s illegal to self-install an AT&T 3G MicroCell as it’s a cell booster and can cause interference for neighbors.”

In other news…

• Femtocells are succeeding where Wi-Fi based UMA solutions didn’t.
• Network congestion lifts home 3G station market.
• RCR Wireless ”big thinking on small cells” interview with Simon Saunders.
• Another interview with Simon Saunders.
• Nomor Research and Node-H to collaborate on HSPA/LTE dual-mode femtocells.
• Datang Mobile shows TD-SCDMA femto solution at China International Exhibition
• Cisco makes femto investments in Taiwan.
• Kineto raises $3m.
• David Chambers regrets that Verizon’s new Samsung-made 3G femtocell does not comply with the 3GPP2 standards.
• Analysys Mason says the mobile data explosion is a myth…Mobile Europe investigates.

Femtocell market update for the 3 weeks to 7 Nov 2010

Verizon launches 3G femtocell

Verizon has started offering a 3G (EV-DO) version of its Network Extender femtocell with a price tag of $250.  The device is an upgrade to the existing Samsung 2G femto.  ABI Research’s Aditya Kaul suggests that the ‘low key’ launch and high price indicate a reluctance on Verizon’s part to push the product hard. Interestingly, Telecompaper describes the device as a picocell, rather than a femtocell, which ties in with Samsung exec Youngsy Kim’s keynote address at 4G World, advocating more picocells in future networks.

Etisalat announces successful femtocell trials

Etisalat has deployed the first femtocells in the UAE, supplied by Alcatel-Lucent.  Commercial launch is targeted before the end of the year.

VHA also trials femtocells

Vodafone Hutchison Australia has started femtocell trials.  The company expects to deploy femtocells for business customers before the end of the year, and plans a consumer rollout some time in 2011.

Femtocells get a boost in Taiwan

Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) has given its approval to femtocells.  Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone responded by announcing that they will start buying femtocells in a big way, and will offer subsidised femtocells to subscribers in 2011.  (The subsidy will amount to about US$100 per device.)  The operators will have to propose femtocell installation plans for review by the NCC, which will issue installation permits and then inspect samples of the femtocells.  The sampling ratio will be 1.6% (much lower than the 10% for 2G and 3G base stations), and home-use femtocells will be exempt.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese manufacturer Alpha Networks says it plans to penetrate European, American and Japanese markets with its WHU-FAP01 3G femtocell.

SKT selects Contela for Data Femto service

picoChip says SK Telecom will use Contela’s end-to-end femtocell solution for its Data Femto offering, to be launched in Korea later this year.  According to picoChip, SKT’s service will be the first in the world to use 3GPP’s luh interface between the access point and the femto gateway.

Telefónica moving towards LTE picocells

Telefónica executive Lluch Ladron told the Broadband World Forum that his company is focusing on improving indoor LTE penetration in 2.6 GHz spectrum by “moving towards street-level picocells and femtocells”.  He said that Telefónica does not favour Wi-Fi because of the lack of operator control over quality of service.

Operators at the Broadband World Forum agreed that LTE alone will not solve network capacity problems.  Femto Forum chairman Simon Saunders pointed out that it currently costs $7-$9 per Gigabyte to carry data traffic on a mobile network, and that by using femtocells in key areas operators can reduce this cost by a factor of four.

£20 Sure Signal femtocells snapped up

Vodafone UK offered 2,000 of its Sure Signal femtocells for a special price of £20 (a £30 discount on the regular price).  According to What Mobile, the devices quickly sold out.

Broadcom to buy Percello

US silicon vendor Broadcom has signed a deal to buy Israeli femtocell chip developer Percello for $86 million.  The company also confirmed the rumour that it acquired Radioframe’s femtocell assets almost a year ago, and said the Percello acquisition should enable it to lower the femtocell bill of materials and accelerate time to market.

ABI Research sees the announcement as a sign of maturity in the femtocell industry.  EE Times agrees, adding that it “presents a very plausible scenario for femtocell integrated in a broadband gateway box, and shows the future of femtocells potentially priced on par with WiFi.”  Even so, $86 million looks like a high valuation for Percello, whose chip shipments are mainly via Ubiquisys (the number 3 femtocell supplier by volume, according to my estimates).

Femtocells outnumber macrocells in US

According to Informa’s latest Femtocell Market Status Report, femtocells now outnumber macrocells in the United States.  Informa estimates that the US currently has 350,000 femtocells (offered by AT&T, Sprint and Verizon) and around 256,000 macrocells.  The report also highlights that the number of operator femtocell deployments worldwide has increased from 11 to 17 over the last quarter.

ALU bangs the femto drum

Despite some financial challenges, Alcatel-Lucent has expressed very public enthusiasm for femtocells over the last few weeks.  First it claimed 12 commercial femtocell deals in only 3 months, with 20 trials ongoing (including Etisalat, see above).  Then it announced frame agreements with the 3 big Chinese mobile operators, with femtocells specifically mentioned as part of the China Unicom contract.  Finally, ALU CEO Ben Verwaayen told investors that interest in femtocells is growing rapidly as mobile operators seek ways to manage increasing data traffic.  Best of all, I understand that another episode of the Wilson Street femto soap is due out any time now.

Will SFR’s new Neufbox be femto-enabled?

There is some speculation that the “3G+” marking on SFR’s new Neufbox home gateway indicates that the device will contain an embedded femtocell.  It seems more likely that this refers to the 3G+ USB dongle used as a back-up for the DSL link (a feature which is already supported by the existing Neufbox), but you never know…

In other news…

• Ofcom advises UK consumers to consider getting a femtocell.
• Ericsson CTO Hakan Eriksson spreads misinformation about femtocells.
• Elisa exec bizarrely suggests femtocells are more expensive than macro networks.
• David Chambers argues that open access is the right approach for enterprise femtocells.
• Report on femtocell session at 4G World.
• Femtos aid the recovery effort after floods in Thailand.
• Femto Forum publishes APIs to advance LTE interoperability.
• T-Mobile tests Cel-Fi repeater for US home coverage.
• Ruckus Wireless introduces end-to-end carrier Wi-Fi solution for data offload.
• But are carriers who use Wi-Fi for offload sufficiently concerned about Wi-Fi security?
• Will Wi-Fi Direct give femto manufacturers “a kicking where it hurts the most”?
• Cellcom deploys Bridgewater EPC 500 system for IMS femtocell services in Wisconsin.
• BelAir adds CDMA2000 support to its stand picocell.
• BelAir CTO Stephen Rayment gives his perspective on the pico / metro femto market…and again.
• Acme packet sponsors ip.access User Group meeting.  David Chambers interviews the company’s Director of Solutions Marketing, Kevin Mitchell.SySDSoft ports LTE femto-eNB protocol stack to ARM9 processor.
• MimoOn announces mi!Spectrum femtocell LTE air interface scheduler.
• Agilent announces calibration and verification testing software for Percello-based femtocells.
• AirHop integrates eSON software with picoChip’s PC302 chip.
• Airvana HubBub Femtocell wins award.
• ADB acquires Pirelli Broadband Solutions.
• Cisco’s Jim Tavares interviewed about femtocells at 4G World.
• David Chambers interview and video – with me.
• Smartphone use accounts for 65% of all mobile traffic worldwide.
• Verizon introduces tiered data pricing option.
• NSN claims 50% more efficient smartphone signalling with Cell_PCH.
• Orange UK iPhone users are the most dissatisfied.
• Demand for in-flight mobile data more important than voice for the next in 2-3 years.
• The next innovation – human basestations!

Femtocell market update for the last few weeks

Femtocells set to take off in Taiwan

DigiTimes reports that Far EasTone will conduct a femtocell trial in Taiwan.  According to China Economic News Service, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone have all added femtocells to their procurement lists and are planning to launch services soon.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese manufacturers are also doing well from the femtocell market.  Alpha Networks announced that it is producing residential and enterprise femtocells. In a statement that may have lost something in the translation, Taiwan’s Institute for Information Industry said it will seek international standardization certification for Taiwan’s first locally made femtocell from 3GPP at an upcoming event (possibly a reference to a Femto Forum / ETSI plugfest?).  Still in Taiwan, Gemtek expects its femtocell shipments to climb as high as 100,000 units a month before the end of 2010, and analysts expect Sercomm to ship 100,000 femtocells this year.

Femtocell momentum builds in the UK

T-Mobile UK says it has started offering femtocells to business customers.  During an investor day presentation, the company’s VP of networks Emin Gürdenli, said femtocells were already in use “with our B2B customers, and that’s not just a technical trial.”

Meanwhile, Vodafone UK is promoting its Sure Signal femtocell to small businesses alongside its One Net Express unified communications service.  (Interestingly, it looks like Vodafone Spain is doing something similar, but with a much higher capacity femtocell capable of handling 32 simultaneous users.)

Orange has historically pursued a UMA route, but Stewart Baines writing on the Orange Business Services blog is very positive about the “real promise” of “higher capacity femtocells being deployed within the office”.

T-Mobile US will support Wi-Fi calling on Android, after all

After much speculation that T-Mobile US might not support its UMA Wi-Fi calling service on its Android handsets, the company has announced it will offer Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi application for Wi-Fi calling on several Android-based smartphones.  This app-based implementation enables UMA to work on a larger range of handsets, but it has limitations compared to a regular UMA service – for example, it does not support handover with the macro network.  Senza Fili’s Monica Paolini provides further details on the benefits of UMA and Wi-Fi calling here.

Femto Forum publishes details of US consumer research

Earlier this year, the Femto Forum commissioned Parks Associates to study US consumer attitudes toward femtocells.  Detailed results of this study have now been published in a white paper.  Light Reading’s Sarah Reedy is mildly sardonic about the study, while Infocom has published its findings that consumers seem to be more interested in simple product bundles rather than FMC services (including femtocells).  However, the Parks Associates study has some very encouraging findings for the femto market – for example, the 56% of consumers who find femtocells appealing greatly outnumbers the 21% who were neutral-to-negative on their indoor coverage, suggesting that femtocells’ appeal extends far beyond the coverage-challenged.

What does all that mobile data traffic consist of?

According to the Allot MobileTrends report for the first half of 2010, video streaming dominates mobile data traffic, with YouTube accounting for 13% of mobile data worldwide.  A separate report from Orange finds that consumers prefer to access Internet services through the mobile browser, rather than Internet-connected apps.  But, as The Register explains, it’s still signalling traffic from smartphone apps that is causing the disruption and congestion on mobile data networks.

In other news…

• Femtocells feature in Scientific American.
• Yankee’s Chris Nicholl says femto’s time is finally coming.
• Femtocells come in from the cold (Wireless Week).
• Ericsson does the sums – small cells are needed! (Slide 14).
• Jorge Delrio of Telus confirms the importance of femtocells in LTE.
• Fierce Wireless’ handy femtocell deployment update.
• Femtocells in EE Times.
• New York town bans new cell towers.
• Singapore Airlines introduces in-flight GSM with OnAir.
• Cable industry scare-mongers about LTE femtocell interference with set-top boxes.
• ABI’s Stuart Carlaw says femto rollout is too slow (to make an impact on data offload).
• Windsor Holden wants some 3G coverage.
• Verizon to introduce tiered data pricing over next 4-6 months.
• Will Strauss of Forward Concepts believes AT&T’s 3G MicroCell will ultimately be free to consumers.
• David Chambers reports on last month’s China Femtocell Symposium.
• Femtocells go better with DSL than TV…and they are more secure than DECT phones.
• Ian Scales loves Smart Wi-Fi.
• Will Franks says WCDMA femto is harder than you think.
• All your femto tweeters in one place, courtesy of Rupert Baines.
• LIPA & SIPTO explained (sort of).
• ATT praised for MicroCell “social customer support”.
• MicroCell video.
• Sure Signal review – recommended!
• Femtocells a talking point at Mobilize 2010…and at EmTech.
• picoChip collaborates with Cambridge Consultants on LTE femtocells.
• Tata Elxsi announces LTE Femto/Pico solution.
• Node H says its software is Iuh compliant.
• HSL’s Mark Hay insists there is a market for 2G femtocells.
• Counterpath granted femto “presence detection” patent.
• Ubiquisys opens development office in Cambridge.
• Ubiquisys announces another $5m of funding from Sercomm, UMC and Pacific Venture Partners.
• Ubiquisys wins Wall Street Journal technology innovation award.
• ip.access nominated for Best Private Company in Leading Lights awards.
• ip.access COO Phil Rimell explains India strategy.
• ip.access’ CEO Steve Mallinson makes the GTB Power 100 list!

Femtocell market update for week of 13 Sep 2010

Movistar launches its residential femtocell service

Telefónica has launched its Mi Cobertura Móvil femtocell in Spain (originally announced in July this year).  Apart from the €9 per month fee and the requirement for a Telefonica 3 Mbps ADSL broadband line, which we already knew about, the Mi Cobertura Móvil website and FAQ page provide some additional details.  For example, the Huawei-made Access Point uses a SIM card for authentication, supports a 10 number whitelist, and (unusually for femtocells) does not support handover in either direction with the macro network.  Interestingly, the registration process involves receiving a password via SMS; I wonder if that might be a problem for subscribers who want the femtocell to provide network coverage at home?

Sprint’s free femtocell – pressure for rivals?

Bloomberg suggests that Sprint’s free femtocell offer will put pressure on AT&T and Verizon to be more aggressive with their own femtocell marketing efforts.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, spokespersons from all three operators attempt to play down the possibility of a mass femtocell giveaway, but analyst Craig Moffett says “One of the real puzzles is why carriers haven’t subsidized femtocells in larger quantities.”  FemtoHub also points out that recent research by the Femto Forum and Parks Associates strongly suggests the power of femtocells as a competitive differentiator for operators.

ip.access signs femto technology agreement with Qualcomm

ip.access has signed a femtocell technology development agreement with Qualcomm, allowing the Cambridge company to develop femtocells using Qualcomm’s Femtocell Station Modem chipset platform.  This week, ip.access also announced the opening of a dedicated R&D centre in Pune, India (picture & interview here), complementing last week’s news of a contract with Bharti Airtel.

picoChip launches PC333 chip for metro femto applications

picoChip CTO Doug Pulley says the company’s new PC333 chip will be sampling in Q4 this year.  With 32 channels and full Local Area Basestation standard compliance, the chip is intended for use in outdoor ‘femtocell’ (actually picocell) deployments – an idea that is growing in popularity.

Airvana confirms exit from UMTS femto market

Following recent rumours, Airvana has posted an entry on its blog confirming a decision to discontinue its HubBub UMTS products in order to focus on CDMA and LTE femtocells.

Is T-Mobile USA abandoning UMA?

T-Mobile US offers one of the two flagship UMA services worldwide (the other being Orange France).  However, by failing to confirm UMA support on its Android handsets, the company has cast doubt over the future of its Hotspot@Home service.  UMA competes with femtocells by providing voice over home (and public hotspot) Wi-Fi networks using specially adapted dual-mode handsets.

Openet morally outraged by femtocells?

Openet thinks “no one has noticed” that femtocells benefit operators by piggyback on the end customer’s broadband connection (what planet have they been on, I wonder?).  The policy and charging vendor proposes cheaper pricing for femtocell data.  So is Openet really morally outraged by femtocell pricing, or are femtocells just a convenient PR bandwagon for highlighting the company’s technology?  (Having said that, I have to agree that differential pricing for femtocell data would be a decent thing for operators to do.)

Alcatel-Lucent publishes small cells consumer research

ALU has published the results of its research into consumer attitudes to a variety of femtocell marketing propositions.  The study forecasts more than 34 million femtocell users in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore and Taiwan by 2014, at which point the market will be worth over €6 billion.

In other news…

• China Unicom claims advantage over rivals with its 3G femtocell.
• ABI publishes data offload report.
• Here’s how to get a Kindle working with Sure Signal.

Femtocell market update for weeks of 30 Aug & 6 Sep 2010

News from the China Femtocell Symposium

I’ve had fun with Google Translate this week trying to figure out what has been going on at the China Femtocell Symposium.  China Unicom said that they have “completed all aspects of femto trial preparation, including technical and standards”.  The carrier’s 3G Inn femtocell service is “currently in beta stage in a number of cities nationwide,” with a particular focus on university campuses and enterprises.  In addition, China Unicom is launching “a variety of innovative applications,” including family alerts and location-based push services.

There is also confirmation of SKT’s plans to deploy up to 10,000 femtocells (literally translated “pemtoseleul“) next year.  Meanwhile, Samsung’s femtocell business is set to “enhance the value of global sales and marketing director of Samsung Jiyoung Lee” (well, we know what you mean), and the Femto Forum announced it is to open a China office to help drive the development and roll out of femtocells in the country.

More femto market forecasts

IDATE has updated its femtocell market forecasts in a new report, ‘Femtocells – worldwide market 2010-2014’. The email flyer reveals a forecast of 11.7 million AP shipments in 2013, increasing to 23 million in 2014.  This is quite a bit lower than recent forecasts from ABI, In-Stat and Dell’Oro.  However, with only 200k shipments forecast for 2010 (exceeded long ago, by my calculations), the IDATE report looks under-cooked.

Carl Weinschenk believes there’s no longer any disagreement in the telecoms industry that femtocells are “transitioning from futurist technology to contemporary tool”.  He points out that “milestones are being met and the time for mass rollouts are near – or even here”.  Meanwhile, Phil Marshall at Tolaga Research is apparently in a different universe, expressing the view that femtocells have “yet to gain a meaningful presence in the marketplace,” and that they need to be repositioned to overcome “lackluster market performance”.

Greek style Vodafone Access Gateway gets a review

An early adopter of the Greek version of Vodafone’s femtocell has posted a review of his experiences with the Huawei-made device.  “Very good speech quality without sound delay” is reported (on a 15 Mbps broadband link), with data speeds of 3.6 Mbps down / 0.384 Mbps up.  The device consumes 7-8 Watts.  As with the majority of femtocell deployments, hand-out from the femtocell to the macro network is supported, but not hand-in.  According to the report, it takes a couple of days to activate new numbers on the femtocell’s whitelist. This is similar to the situation when Vodafone first launched its UK femtocell, but since then the process has been fully automated and new phones added to the whitelist can use the Sure Signal femtocell immediately.

2G femtocells, anyone?

Hay systems HSL has announced its 2G femtocells are shipping, and Mark Hay has been making a case that a 2G femtocell + Wi-Fi is better than a 3G femtocell.  Meanwhile femtocell users in the real world are finding “not much of a need to turn on Wi-Fi with [a 3G femtocell] running”, and picoChip’s Andy Gothard explains why a “femtocell is simpler and practicaller than Wi-Fi”.

ip.access announces contract with Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel has chosen ip.access to supply picocells for deployment across India.  According to Mark Pittick, Vice President Strategic Accounts, ip.access is supplying about 3,000 units to Airtel in the first phase of deployments, initially in five circles, but eventually extending to all 24 circles.  The company also has another, as yet unannounced, contract with a second Indian carrier.

Over the top model for femtocells works best

David Chambers points out that half of commercial femtocell deployments require subscribers to buy the carrier’s own wireline broadband service as well.  Interestingly, all the volume is in the other half of the market, where the femtocells can work with any broadband connection (most notably AT&T and Vodafone UK, having between them the large majority of femtocell shipments to date).

Take my advice…

Everyone seems to be advocating free femtocells this week.  David Chambers provides a convincing back-of-the-envelope business case for free hotel femtocells.  CCPU’s Todd Mersch advises AT&T that free femtocells are the answer to its “PR nightmare”.  Even GigaOM is making a case for subsidised femtocells.

In other news…

• AT&T explains its network improvements in New York (see episode 12 – femtocell mentioned at 31 mins 20 sec).
• And again: the femtocell “works like a charm”.
• AT&T MicroCell review: “it’s the best cell reception I’ve had in my entire life”.
• Mobile Phone Expert survey finds 42% of UK over-35s are happy about in-flight calling.
• Telecom Asia says femtocells need services (but why do they think Vodafone has seen “lackluster adoption”?)…perhaps they got it from Phil Marshall at Tolaga Research.
• picoChip launches PC7300 femto reference design, claims $50 femto BoM.
• China’s FemTel Communications develops picoChip-based TD-SCDMA femtocell (being tested, presumably by China Mobile).
• Simon Saunders on the “quiet femtocell revolution”.
• Dean Bubley wonders why BT is offloading mobile data for free with its Wi-Fi app.
• QCOM shows off its femto chip at the London Science Museum.
• Qualcomm’s Prakash Sangam explains just how small a femtocell is.
• No way is that a picocell!
• SpiderCloud provides competition for femtocells in the enterprise with, er…, a femtocell…Or did they mean competition for DAS?
• Want a new MicroCell logo for your iPhone4?
• Lime offers design kit and reference design for its multi-band, multi-standard femtocell RF transceiver.