Femtocells: Opportunities and Challenges for Business and Technology

3

Market Issues for Femtocells

Stuart Carlaw

This chapter aims to give insight into the major market-related aspects that impact upon the uptake of femtocell solutions. Some of the ground touched on in other sections is covered, but here these factors are related specifically to what impact they have upon the market.

3.1 Key Benefits of a Femtocell from Market Perspective

This section includes extracts from (36).¹

3.1.1 In-Home Coverage

Buildings are one of the most difficult environments in which to propagate radio signals. Building walls absorb RF energy and bounce signals around to produce multipath, one of the key signal killers in any radio environment. There are ways to mitigate the effects of poor wireless coverage, such as the use of leaky feeders or simply raising the power output. Other solutions include distributed antennas, repeaters and picocell base stations. All of these are significantly different from the method employed by femtocell base stations, and the difference in approaches holds the key as to why femtocells are more suited to certain situations.

The overriding difference between femtocells and other solutions is the location of the connection of the femtocell to the fixed assets for backhaul and power. All of the other methods still rely on the cellular carrier's assets to backhaul the signal through either point-to-point radio or leased lines. Another major difference is power. Femtocells will be placed in small offices and houses and the cost of powering ...