Picocells and Femtocells: will indoor base stations transform the telecoms industry?

Published by Analysys Mason (March 2007)

 

Dr Alastair Brydon, CEO of Sound Partners Dr Alastair Brydon
CEO of Sound Partners

Dr Mark Heath
Director of Research, Sound Partners

 

  “The trend towards fixed–mobile substitution is increasing in many countries, and 3G networks are at a relatively early stage in their development. In this context, 3G femtocells could not have arrived at a better time for the mobile industry. A number of technologies have been over-hyped in recent years, but indoor base stations have the potential to transform the telecoms industry.”
 
 

Product overview

Small, low-cost, indoor cellular base stations, often referred to as picocells and femtocells, are a major new development for wireless networks. Indoor base stations are similar in appearance to WiFi access points but are effectively miniature cellular base stations, containing all the necessary functionality to connect to a mobile core network. Instead of expanding their existing macrocell networks, mobile operators can place indoor base stations, with DSL (or other broadband) backhaul to their networks, in homes and workplaces in order to achieve low-cost, high-quality, indoor coverage. The prospect of substantial cost savings and new service opportunities from this change is generating intense interest from operators and could bring about a radical departure from traditional cellular network architecture. However, many questions relating to the implementation of indoor base stations remain unanswered.

This new report describes how indoor base stations could be used across different wireless technologies, including 2G, 3G and WiMAX. It considers the business case for their application and identifies the issues that need to be resolved to enable widespread deployment. It quantifies likely revenue and cost benefits, including the savings that operators can make by avoiding macrocell network expansion. It also assesses the strategic impact of home base stations on the telecoms industry, including fundamental changes to network evolution. The report draws on interviews from a range of indoor base station experts and vendors in Europe and the USA.

 

Full information on the report 

Click here to get full information on the report from Analysys Mason.

 

This report answers your key questions

Picocells and Femtocells: will indoor base stations transform the telecoms industry? answers your key questions:

  • What are picocells and femtocells and who is promoting them?

  • Which technologies can indoor base stations be applied to, and what are the implications in each case?

  • What is the business case for the extensive deployment of indoor base stations by mobile operators? What are the realistic revenue opportunities? How much will indoor base stations cost and what savings could be made by avoiding further expansion of macrocell networks?

  • What are the outstanding issues to be resolved before operators can embark on widespread deployment of indoor base stations?

  • What strategic impacts (if any) will indoor base stations have on the telecoms industry in general?