14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent report from iSuppli, the market of cellular base stations that offer enhanced indoor coverage is set to increase significantly during the ongoing year, as well as over the following year. The research company states that shipments of femtocell base stations is expected to more than triple during 2010, reaching 1.9 million, up from 571,000 units in 2009.
The research firm also notes that the shipments of femtocells will see an explosive growth in the following years too, reaching 7.2 million units in 2011, a volume that will mark a 289 percent increase when compared to the ongoing year. Moreover, the shipments are expected to reach 23.9 million units in 2012 and 39.6 million units in 2013, the research firm also notes.
“Along the wireless supply chain, various nodes are busy mobilizing to provide solutions for femtocells, which resemble Wi-Fi routers in appearance. Instead of enabling wireless local area networks, however, femtocell base stations improve 3G coverage inside buildings or homes—locations where wireless signals tend to be weak because of building materials blocking the signal or the site’s distance from a cell tower,” iSuppli states.
A series of Tier 1 companies in the United States, as well as large carriers around the world, including Vodafone in the UK, has already released femtocell solutions, and various operators are also starting to deploy femtocells commercially, something that will result in the forecast growth. According to the research firm, device manufacturers are also looking into the femtocell area, and some even announced that they started ordering key baseband chipset components for upcoming products.
“Taking into account such developments across the mobile ecosystem, iSuppli expects 2010 to be the year in which femtocell units become a key ingredient in the foundation for future radio access network topologies. And while technical and commercial challenges remain, femtocells are proving to be viable solutions for players in the wireless industry - especially mobile network operators - seeking to optimize their resources in providing seamless wireless coverage inside indoor environments,” iSuppli concludes. Additional details can be found on the company's website.