2011 Event Summary

Femtocell deployments continue to grow, small cells to become a key part of next generation network architecture

With ever-increasing high data usage from subscribers, and the expectation of perfect coverage throughout their network, small cells and femtocells in particular continue to have an important role in carriers’ networks.


Wireless as a global solution

In sunny San Diego, over 150 thought-leaders and industry innovators came together for the annual Femtocells Americas Conference, organised in exclusive partnership with the Femto Forum, to discuss where the femtocell and small cell industry are headed, and the challenges being faced by carriers and the vendors alike.

The consensus remains that small cells already play an important role in network architecture, and looking forward towards LTE, it becomes clear that small cells will have an even bigger role to play. Reducing customer churn, and reducing CAPEX and OPEX remain important drivers for small cell deployments across different markets.

Operators are also starting to look at convergent technologies, creating a wider portfolio of technology that provides the customer with more options to improve coverage and data rates. With this in mind, the focus has shifted from femtocell deployments as a stand-alone product, to one element in a technological road-map.

Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femto Forum, opened proceedings giving an outline of the latest deployments world-wide, and looking at the broader definition of small cells and what this technology offers to carriers and the end-customer. Andy Germano, vice-chairman, also offered some exclusive insights into the latest app and services developments being carried out by the Femto Forum, together with standards bodies such as 3GPP2.

Once again, femtocells were also present as a disaster relief tool. Following TOT’s case study of femtocell deployment in flood-hit areas, SoftBank’s Yoshihito outlined the rescue efforts carried out following the Tsunami in March 2011, and the importance of small cells to re-establish the network almost immediately in a compelling presentation.


More deployments, inside and outside of the home

It was at Femtocells Americas 2011 that operators Mosaic Telecom and Telecom Italia announced their official femtocell deployments. Mosaic, focused on providing service in rural Wisconsin has targeted femtocell deployments for customers in their service area. Alternatively, Telecom Italia is ready to offer their services to the residential consumer as well, launching their product “TIM a tutto campo”.

Optus Australia also gave for the first time, a very detailed view on their deployment experience thus far, having deployed in June 2011. Pricing strategy, marketing and product bundling were some of the key topics circulating around the show-floor. Optus’ femtocell service provides the customer with a guaranteed source of 5 bar service inside their home.

Increasingly, operators from regions such as LatAm are also showing interest in this technology. Antel, who deployed their dedicated LTE network in late 2011, and Telcel were some of the keynote speakers who are looking into small cells as an alternative for network roll-out. Challenges such as price point, regulation and broadband penetration are the key limiters in the area, but operators and vendors are working together to offer alternative solutions such as microwave and wireless backhaul.

Femtocells are moving out of the home, and deployments are becoming increasingly visible in the streets and in enterprise. Ahead of the event, Mehmet Yavuz, Director of Engineering at Qualcomm, sat down with Avren Events to speak about their latest developments, an open-access femtocell that, despite being placed inside a building, can also provide service to walkers-by outside. This is just one example of the new uses that femtocells and picocells are being designed to do, making use of SON technology.


Femtocells, heterogeneous networks and LTE

Gauging by the conversations held in San Diego, operators are increasingly convinced of the important role that femtocells and small cells will play in their next generation networks. Operators such as SK Telecom, Telcel and Clear Mobitel are committed to developing their LTE networks with femto- and small cells as a core of their network topography. Higher speeds and user demands on the network will inevitably drive operators to build more extensive seamless heterogeneous networks, and this was very much a theme throughout the conference.

The vendor community is also making great strides to meet operator demands. OEMs such as Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent and Qualcomm presented their small cell solution as an element of the bigger picture, where operators create a network according to their needs and budget.

Contact:
Head of Marketing: Anita Agyeman
Email: anita@avrenevents.com
Tel: +44 207 370 8614
Fax: +44 207 370 8288

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