Abstract
This report examines residential femtocells, also called cellular home
gateways. These are small cellular access points which provide cellular
wireless access inside the home and open up new business opportunities for the
mobile operator.
3G home gateway solutions are still in their early development stages. As of
early 2007, only femtocell prototypes are being used in lab testing.
Operators' trials in 2007 will have to analyse two key technical issues:
firstly, radio interference between the femtocells and the public
infrastructure' s macrocells; secondly, the core network integration of
femtocells. Should the cellular home gateways be a success, there could be
millions of new cellular access points added to cellular networks. There is
thus an important scaleability challenge, both in terms of radio management
and network architecture.
Included in this report are forecasts for Western Europe and market
development scenarios.
Table of Contents
Key messages
Definitions
Why put a cellular access point in the home?
- High-level principles of the femtocell concept
- The mobile is used a lot at home
- Benefits of femtocells
Challenges of developing femtocells
- Key requirements
- Network architecture
- Operators will push for a standard
- Femtocell products
Strategies for operators
- Potential business models for operators
- Service strategies
- Business case issues
- Market development scenario
- Femtocell strategies for new entrants
Table of figures
- Figure 1 Overview of cell types in cellular networks
- Figure 2 The femtocell concept
- Figure 3 Connect femtocells to the RNC via the Iub interface
- Figure 4 Manage femtocells with concentrators
- Figure 5 Adapt the UMA solution
- Figure 6 SIP/IMS
- Figure 7 Overview of possible business models for femtocells
- Figure 8 Revenues and costs for the femtocell business case
- Figure 9 Femtocell market development scenario
- Figure 10 Residential femtocells in Western Europe
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