Communications Crossroads - Winter 2007 - (Page 21)

THE FEMTOCELL DEVICE PROVIDES MOBILE PHONE COVERAGE THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE. INSTEAD OF AN OUTSIDE NETWORK, MOBILE PHONE USERS RIDE THEIR OWN BROADBAND CONNECTIONS. For subscribers, Shaw says, the most common beneﬁt will be improved coverage for 3G. “3G, because it typically runs at 2 GHz, doesn’t penetrate walls or buildings as well. One of the reasons why 3G services have been a bit slow to take off is that subscribers just can’t use them at home very well.” Collins notes that in Europe, which also has problems with the 3G standard, more towers were needed to provide good mobile service, so companies there were very interested in femtocells. There’s been a lot of interest in the U.S. lately as well. Shaw says, “A second potential beneﬁt is that operators may choose to offer a discounted calling package for calls made when at home.” For example, T-Mobile has a hotspot@ home service offer, where subscribers get unlimited calling from their mobile phones when connected to an in-home wireless network—in T-Mobile’s case, it’s WiFi, but a femtocell could do it, too—for just $10 per month. Shaw says that this “home zone” approach is pretty hot right now. The idea is to drive minutes of use off the ﬁ xed network and on to the mobile network. A company like TMobile has no ﬁ xed operations in the U.S., so it’s deﬁnitely a threat to ﬁ xed line voice. However, Cincinnati Bell offers a similar service called “Home Run.” Shaw says their thinking is that ﬁ xed line minutes are going away, either to VoIP competitors or through pricing discounts, so customers will control and manage their ﬁ xed business onto their mobile networks rather than losing the minutes altogether. Because femtocells are based on licensed wireless spectrum, they will be deployed primarily by companies who own spectrum, mobile only or integrated (mobile/ﬁxed) carriers. “It’s going to be tough for ﬁ xed only operators to play in a femtocell deployment,” Shaw says. For carriers, femtocells do three key things: First, they offer much cheaper voice and data trafﬁc, by basically riding for free over the public Internet. Second, femtocells get trafﬁc off the main network. Trafﬁc in the home, which will likely be more data/bandwidth intensive, can be handled on the femtocell in the home, freeing up macro radio spectrum for people who truly need it (i.e., in the car or outdoors). These are “internal” beneﬁts for the operator. The third is that, by improving coverage and performance of mobile 7129 Old Hwy 52 Welcome, NC 27374 www.walker rst.com 800.WALKER1 info@walker rst.com Products and services from industry-leading manufacturers that support leading-edge telecommunications technologies. 310326_Walker.indd 1 Winter 2007 COMMUNICATIONS CROSSROADS AM 12/5/06 12:05:50 21

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Communications Crossroads - Winter 2007

Communications Crossroads Winter 2007 Up Front Contents Cover Story: Billing Redux Business Advantages: Reaching Consumers with Special Needs Technology Today: Femtocells: The Jury’s Still Out Industry Calendar Index to Advertisers TELECOMPAC

Communications Crossroads - Winter 2007

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