Femtocell Deployment to Grow in 2009 September 26th, 2008

Several barriers stand in the way of more widespread, mass-market femtocell deployments, according to a recent survey of service provider professionals by Heavy Reading, with the two greatest obstacles being a lack of standardization and the potential for interference with the macro network. However, responses to the survey also indicated that 87% of respondents plan to launch femtocell services in the coming years, with 54% planning to launch by the end of 2010. Although there is interest in using femtocell deployments to offer consumers new in-home services, the survey indicated that the primary goal of femtocell service is simply to improve basic voice coverage. Carriers are also debating whether customers should bear some of the costs of buying their own femtocell hardware. Each femtocell can cost several hundred dollars for a typical household, and consumers aren’t exactly ready to go out and buy another gadget to configure and maintain.