"Success with femtocells is not guaranteed, and a focus on
low-cost voice telephony could prove disastrous. In our report, we study the
business case for femtocells in order to pinpoint the circumstances in which
femtocells are commercially viable. We define compelling consumer
propositions and marketing plans for this exciting new technology."
Product overview
It's now time for mobile operators to define viable business cases for 3G
indoor base stations, commonly referred to as femtocells, and to develop
compelling service propositions and marketing plans that make those business
cases a reality. There is increasing excitement in the mobile industry about
the potential for femtocells. Equipment vendors and mobile network operators
are busily developing and evaluating products and considering how to
integrate large numbers (potentially millions) of femtocells into existing
mobile networks. However, the success of femtocells is not guaranteed, and
the cost of failure could be very high. Much early attention has been
focused on the technical challenges of femtocells, but mobile operators
should concentrate on making viable business cases and delivering successful
consumer propositions.
This report shows operators how they can profitably derive revenue from
femtocells by defining compelling consumer propositions with which to target
key segments. It considers both voice telephony and a number of non-voice
services that will be critical to a viable business case. The report
quantifies the business case for operators deploying femtocells for a range
of customer types and service mixes in order to pinpoint the most attractive
opportunities. The report also compares the business case for femtocells
with those for other options, including network sharing, UMA services,
home-zone tariffs and traditional bundles, and defines exactly where, how
and when femtocells should be deployed to achieve the best return.