of service for the usage of mobile in the home; (ii) cheap
cellular services delivery costs; and (iii) support of already-
existing handsets with no new requirements on the device
side.
local market conditions. But at top level, we consider that
the femtocell business models for an operator may be one
or rather a combination of these three approaches:
mostly relevant in markets where cellular voice coverage is
still a critical issue;
from the macrocell network, they may limit the need to in-
vest for more capacity in the macrocell network;
tiated consumer offerings for mobile at home. This could
consist, for instance, of attractively priced all-you-can-eat
plans.
a few questions come to mind: How do they differentiate
between the existing dual-mode WiFi/cellular device
offerings? What devices and applications can really benefit
from higher data rates at home? Does this require the
mobile operator to control the fixed broadband access?
Will end-users accept a mini base station in the home? Is
it for private access only, or is it open to all the operator's
customers?
added together. Various players have already underlined the
technology challenges of femtocells, and we hope to soon
see results of the ongoing trials that will give an indication
of the progresses made.
access point inside the home and backhauling the cellular traffic via
the customer's broadband internet access line brings tangible benefits
to mobile operators. At the top-level, the objective is basically for
mobile operators to make cellular access more competitive in the
home environment where in europe, for instance, 30-40% of the
mobile voice traffic is generated, as well as a significant proportion
of mobile data usage.