Femtocell market update for week of 30 June 2008

Rumours of Airave nationwide deployment

Engadget reports that Sprint’s Airave (CDMA-1X) femtocell will be on sale across the USA from July 15th for $99. The comments on this page reveal some interesting consumer reaction to the product – albeit from a fairly technical audience. Business Week also reports the news, and concludes “for consumers wishing to abandon home lines altogether in favor of wireless, Airave may be a good choice”.

Mobile Europe TV coverage of the Femtocells Europe 2008 conference

Some great interviews with femto vendors here.

European operators planning 2009 femto deployments

Unstrung reports that many European operators are delaying their femtocell deployments until 2009.

Femtos for €40?

SFR’s Thierry Berthouloux wants €40 femtocells. Various vendors comment on the feasibility of reaching this price point, including our own Chris Cox.

ABI says the femto market is set for “boom or bust”

ABI argues that operators could lose interest if the market loses momentum. To give an alternative view, if the technology works, solves a real problem that isn’t being solved another way, and can be made affordable, then timescales could potentially drift to the right without necessarily causing a “bust”. Operators need to find a way to solve the problem of home 3G coverage and capacity, which will get worse in the next 18 months. Using WiFi for data looks like the only viable alternative, and not all operators will want to embrace this.

Is white the new black?

Oysters

Rethink Research uncovers changing femto motivations

In amongst a good summary of recent news is a revealing snippet: “In a recent Rethink Research survey [of 250 carriers with an active interest in femtocells] carried out in January 2008 and repeated six months later, there was a clear shift in priorities for WiMAX or LTE femtocell build-out proposals. New applications and the opportunity to take femtos outdoors to create hotzones have both become significantly more important to operators, and both are now seen as greater commercial reasons to invest than the ‘base justifications’ of better indoor penetration and filling in coverage gaps. Also becoming more important, though less dramatically so, is the role of the femtocell in a fixed/mobile convergence bundle that would almost certainly also integrate with the home media network.”

Telco 2.0 says femtocells are the future

They say, “Since femtocells and home hubs extend in-building coverage, and boost speeds too, we’d say that’s where the future lies. Furthermore, most of the ‘dead time’ filled with bulky low-value entertainment occurs in the home, which makes it all the more important to lower your network costs there.” They also predict, “Femto roaming could become a big deal – where carrier A recompenses carrier B for using your neighbour’s femto when you’re down the end of the garden.”

GSA says 900 MHz UMTS is happening

Momentum is building behind the idea of refarming 900 MHz spectrum for UMTS. Elisa launched the world’s first UMTS 900 system in Finland last November, and then in Estonia in January. AIS recently launched Asia’s first UMTS 900 system in Chiangmai, Thailand. The GSA says that 20 UMTS 900 mobile phones have been announced from 6 manufacturers. 900 MHz gives better in-building coverage than the higher frequencies currently used for 3G, and some say this will reduce the need for femtocells. But femtocells offer many additional benefits, such as adding capacity to the network, supporting personal / private access, homezone tariffs, and femto services for the home.

Tatara gets $6.5 million VC investment

The funding brings the company’s total to $36.5 million since its inception in 2001. Investors in the new round include North Bridge Venture Partners and Highland Capital Partners, both previous investors in the company.

TAP starts in-flight GSM trial

Portugal’s TAP airline has announced a trial of in-flight GSM with OnAir. The service will be available on a single Airbus A319 aircraft for an initial period of six months, after which the success of the mobile services will be evaluated.

In other news…

• Reuters reports that a quarter of EU homes now use only mobile phones
• Tektronix announces ip.access as a customer for its carrier grade femto test kit
• Kineto’s Steve Shaw expands on the homezone 2.0 theme.

No update for the next two weeks – I’m on holiday!

Andy