Comments on: Do we really need femto cells?

By: David

David — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:37:48 +0000

A very good initial analysis. It also worth stating that femtocells work with standard, existing handsets – unlike dual-mode WiFi solutions. They also require good quality (low latency) but low bitrate (for voice) broadband. A significant cost for mobile operators is backhaul, which could be prohibitive if wide area mobile broadband takes off – hence offloading to femtocells where the customer provides the “site”, power and backhaul connectivity is attractive.

Femtocells need to be self-installing and pretty much idiot-proof to succeed – hence vendors are learning from and/or collaborating with DSL modem/WiFi hub manufacturers.

Many fixed operators make much less money from voice call revenues as a percentage of their business than mobile operators, so the argument about stealing voice minutes is weaker and for data traffic doesn’t hold.

There’s much more information on the business case at my website http://www.thinkfemtocell.com

By: Dimitris Mavrakis

Dimitris Mavrakis — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:24:12 +0000

And another thing, if we are talking about UMTS900, it is ultimately a capacity issue not a coverage one. Even if radio waves successfully penetrate buildings, a micro cell will not be able to cope in a densely populated data-hungry area.

I am not saying that femto cells are panacea, but could possibly address these issues IF properly developed, marketed and deployed.

By: Dimitris Mavrakis

Dimitris Mavrakis — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:14:11 +0000

Hi Giorgo,

I agree with you, the business case for femto cells is not so clear at the moment. This is also illustrated by BT evaluating the costs to deploy femto cells as too high and Ericsson saying it will not introduce suitable product lines until market is ready in 2009.

I disagree about the WiFi comment though. A femto cell would allow user to communicate at home with the same handset, while WiFi would require another handset – or another terminal (e.g. notebook computer) and suitable interfaces (UMA) to enable seamless transfer of calls between heterogeneous media.

It is simplicity for the end user that MNOs should aim for in my opinion with femto cells (but I am not sure whether a deployement of MNO-wholly-managed femtos is even possible – too many technical issues).

Dimitris.

By: Giorgos Sarmonikas

Giorgos Sarmonikas — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:27:06 +0000

I do not think femptocells have positive business case especially for Mobile Operators. Even for those MNOs who they do not have good 3G coverage indoors, sooner or later they will launch UMTS 900 which will solve that indoor coverage gap. The home femptocell industry will be dominated by WiFi at least for the next 3-5 years and not by 3G(HSPA) Access Points.

By: Giorgos Sarmonikas

Giorgos Sarmonikas — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:26:24 +0000

I do not think femptocells have positive business case espacially for Mobile Operators. Even for those MNOs who they do not have good 3G coverage indoors, sooner or later they will launch UMTS 900 which will solve their indoor 3G coverage problem. The home femptocell industry will be dominated by WiFi at least for the next 3-5 years and not by 3G(HSPA) Access Points.

By: openspectrum.info - Front Page

openspectrum.info - Front Page — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

1 December 2007″Do we really need femto cells?”by Dimitris Mavrakis, VisionMobile Forum “Software defined radios adapt to change,” by Murat Bicer, Electronic Component News Asia

By: Mobile Analyst Watch

Mobile Analyst Watch — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Is there such a thing as a ‘vanilla’ IMS handset?Dean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis about Handset privacy – any rules or standards?Dean Bubley at Disruptive Analysis about Mobile payments for car parking – awful user experienceDimitris Mavrakis atVisionMobileabout Do we really need femto cells?Jack Gold at J. Gold Associates, IDC analyst Godfrey Chua and Jason Kowal at Analysys via washingtonpost.com about Verizon May be Seeking MergerDeutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff via

By: Reshaping Narrow Law and Art

Reshaping Narrow Law and Art — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Also, when your PCS provider advertises femto cells, there’s a good chance users will wonder why they have to pay a premium for the basic level of service that subscribers could reasonably expect. Sources Additional Reading Dimitris Mavrakis, “Do we really need femto cells?” Vision Mobile Blog (1 Dec 2008) Ed Sutherland, ” Femtocell FAQ: Is it time for your own ‘personal cell-phone tower’? ” Computerworld (November 2008) ” Femto Cells: Personal Base Stations “, Airvana (July 2007)