Femtocell market update for week of 2 June

Good progress towards femtocell standardisation

The headlines this week give the impression that a new femtocell standard has been agreed.  This is something of an overstatement, but there has been a lot of encouraging progress recently in 3GPP and the Femto Forum, and consensus is now building around a framework for the standard.

For example, it has been decided that the so-called Iu-h interface between the Femto Access Point and the Femto Gateway will be based on Iu, not UMA/GAN, SIP or Iu-b.  It’s also clear that the standard will aim to incorporate the best elements from existing solutions, which means that all vendors will need to migrate from their current architectures.  The former UMA/GAN proponents have claimed that they will have the least migration work to do, but this appears to be wishful thinking – in truth it looks like Iu-h will actually be closer to conventional Iu than GAN.

So far, only a high level framework has been agreed.  Kineto explains that Iu-h includes a new application protocol (HNBAP) and a new method for transporting Iu control signalling over the Internet, but these elements are still to be defined, and a significant amount of work remains to be done.  However, 3GPP intends to complete the definition of the standard by December 2008.

Ubiquisys claimed to be the first femtocell vendor to announce its commitment to Iu-h, promising products by December, but a much more tangible commitment to Iu-h has already been demonstrated by many other vendors over the past few weeks through their active engagement in the standards process.  ip.access has been part of this work, and will support Iu-h with a migration path for customers who deploy femtocells with our Iu+ interface before the standard is available.

The ultimate goal is, of course, interoperability.  Iu-h will be an important step towards this, but other pieces of the puzzle are still to be found.  For example, we need a standardised management system before one vendor’s  Femto Access Point can be made to work with another vendor’s Femto Gateway.

Have femtocells been shelved at DoCoMo?

This article suggests that DoCoMo’s femtocell initiative has taken a back seat to the new Home U WiFi dual mode service.  Like TIM in Italy, DoCoMo prefers the SIP approach rather than UMA.  A DoCoMo insider says that femto testing is still on.

Another “femtocell launch” (not)

According to the headlines, Vodafone will launch a “femtocell” in Italy this summer.  However, the “Vodafone Station” is actually not a femtocell at all.  It’s a combined DSL modem + WLAN router for fixed broadband plus a detachable HSPA USB dongle (i.e. it receives a HSPA signal from the macro network, whereas a femtocell actually creates its own signal in the home).  The idea is that Vodafone Station customers can use the HSPA connection for immediate internet access while they wait for their fixed broadband access to be provisioned.  Interestingly, the dongle supports PC-based VoIP when connected to the Vodafone Station, but not when used out-and-about with a laptop.

NEC argues for 100% femtocell subsidy

Sid Chiru, business development director for NEC, says “we’ve been talking to operators about a 100 per cent subsidy for femtocells, depending on who the customer is.”  Sid points out that a €250 femtocell price (apparently an estimated average for the industry) “will look good compared with the €300 cost of acquiring a new subscriber”.

Mavenir promotes femto services

Payam Maveddat from Mavenir believes that femtozone services will be the key to mass market adoption.  He says, “the main factor that will determine the success of the femtocell business model for the operators is the consumer’s perception of value … Channeling the focus on services will address the consumer needs and will help operators to establish and promote their brand as a value-added service provider and not a price led commodity player.”  ip.access has a partnership with Mavenir to develop femtozone services.

Femtocells & Cable

Here’s how the cable industry feels about femtocells.  “…femtos are the advance scouts for invading telecom forces that will use cable resources to improve in-residence mobile wireless broadband and insidiously infect consumer thinking.”  (OK, now tell us what you really think.)

Why femtocells?

Manish Singh summarises the need for femtocells.  He concludes that “The race against competing dual-mode Wi-Fi phone technology is on.  Getting to market quickly is more important than ever, and first-mover advantage will be key.”

Femtocells on MSNBC

More mainstream media coverage for our favourite gadget.