In the world of telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station. It is typically designed for use in a home or small business. A femtocell falls under the category of being a subset of the more widespread small cell. It connects to the service provider’s network through a broadband connection.
Femtocell designs typically support two to four active mobile phones in a residential setting and as many as 16 active mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable.
According to a new report out from Infonetics Research, it looks as if the continuing LTE deployments have caused the femtocells and enterprise level small cells to increase their market share. In fact, it seems that the market will look good and remain strong for the next couple of years.
A femtocell market forecast by Infonetics estimates that the worldwide femtocell and enterprise small cell equipment revenue reached $144 million during 2014's first quarter. This represents a six percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2013. LTE femtocells have shown to be the highest Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) products in the market. Overall they are helping to boost revenue growth.
As stated by the report’s author and directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics, Richard Webb, “Both femtocell and enterprise small cells should sustain continuous year-over-year unit and revenue growth through 2018. 4G macro network deployments are underway in many places and operators are starting to launch 4G-based femtocells to augment mobile broadband services. Boosted by enterprise small cell adoption kicking in to help mobile operators support enterprise specific voice and data offerings, we believe 4G femtocell and enterprise small-cell revenue will climb to $2.3 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77 percent from 2013 to 2018."
Some of the highlights that are taken from Infonetics’ report include;
Worldwide femtocell and enterprise small cell equipment revenue reached $144 million in 1Q14, up six percent from 4Q13
LTE femtocells, the highest ARPU products in the market, are a driving force behind revenue growth, though W-CDMA femtocells still make up the dominant proportion of unit shipments
The residential segment led with 59 percent of femtocell revenue in 1Q14, ahead of the enterprise small cell segment
These are distinct markets in their own right, and Infonetics expects to see increasing specialization from vendors and operators alike
Integrated femtocells grew to eight percent of total units in 1Q14 and are anticipated to account for about a third of unit shipments by 2018, predominantly into the residential segment
Femtocell/enterprise small cell equipment revenue market share leaders in 1Q14 are, in alphabetical order, Airvana, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, and ip.access
Webb commented that “Overall, the femtocell and enterprise small cell equipment market has seen robust unit and revenue growth over the previous half-year period and we remain optimistic that these small cell segments have sufficient market drivers and support among operators to sustain continuous year-over-year unit and revenue growth through 2018.”
QUICK LINKS 
