CORRECT(2/16): Industry Players See Fast Spread Of Femtocells
18 Février 2010 - 2:29PM
Dow Jones News
The use of femtocells is expected to rise substantially over the
coming years as a growing number of operators start deploying the
devices to increase capacity and coverage in their networks,
industry organization Femto Forum said Tuesday.
At a briefing at the ongoing World Mobile Congress in Barcelona,
the non-profit organization's chairman Simon Saunders said
increased mobile spectrum and new efficient network standards like
Long Term Evolution will not in themselves be enough to meet the
explosion in mobile data generated by smartphones and laptops.
Femtocells, essentially minimal base stations about the size of
a small shoe box which cover an area of some 10,000 square feet,
will increasingly be deployed in homes, offices and busy city
environments to help offload the networks, Saunders said.
According to projections from analysis firm Informa, some 49
million femto cells will be deployed by 2014, he added.
A few big operators including Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) and
AT&T Inc (T) have recently started deploying femtocells,
according to Sanjeev Verma, founder of U.S.-based femtocell maker
Airvana Inc. (AIRV). There are a few hundred thousand femtocells in
use worldwide, he said in an interview Tuesday, but added that the
number should rise sharply as Vodafone and others soon start
advertising the devices.
Operators are interested in femtocells because they improve
coverage in indoors environments and boost network capacity, said
Verma. He said they also allow some applications for home
environments, like synchronizing electronic devices over the
network.
A typical femtocell costs around $100-$200, Verma said, but
added that operators will probably offer them to consumers at a
subsidized price, much like they currently do with mobile
phones.
In a separate keynote speech Tuesday, Guo Ping, Chief Strategy
Officer at Chinese network equipment vendor Huawei Technologies Co,
said limited bandwidth is an important challenge for the telecom
industry.
Telecom firms can meet capacity demands by rolling out faster
technology standards like Long Term Evolution, gaining access to
more spectrum, and building solutions for increased coverage in hot
spots, he said.
-By Gustav Sandstrom, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3099;
gustav.sandstrom@dowjones.com
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