WhyDom

Femtocells could have a dramatic change on the cell phone service environment.  ABI research predicts there will be 150 million femtocell users by 2012.  That is from zero users today, as reported by GigaOm.   On the other side of the race, In-Sat, as quoted in PDAStreet, projects there will be 200 million dual mode WiFi phones by 2010.  The race is on.  Either way it shakes out, we are moving to smaller micro cell sites.  To think of it another way, cell phone service will move from large vulnerable cell towers, to distributed, internet type service.  In five years, you may be using your cell phone primarily through micro antennas located in your home and office.

Both femtocells and dual mode phones accomplish the same basic result.  Femtocells create small antenna cell sites.  Usually within a home or office.  The femtocell then transmits the signal from the cell site and over IP transport, such as DSL or cable service.   Just think of a cell phone tower and move all the features of the cell phone tower into a small device such as a router or DSL/Cable modem located into a home or office.   Netgear is rolling out a femtocell in the 4Q2007.  Netgear will integrate Ubiquisys’ femtocell technology.  Ubiquisys is hot.   On July 20, 2007, Ubiquisys announced that Google participated in a Series B round of $25m, along with Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, and Accel Partners.

Femtocells allow cell phones to move from the normal cell phone antenna system up on a tower to an antenna inside the femtocell.  For the first time you will see all four bars on your phone when you are inside your home or business if you have a femtocell.  Femtocells use UMTS (with W-CDMA), CDMA-2000, and WiMax.  Thus, with a femtocell engineered with UMTS, CDMA-2000, or WiMAX(!), the cell will shift the signal from the cellular service provider to the IP network connected to the femtocell.  Femtocells are like WiFi access points but made for cell phones.   Rather than have a dual-mode WiFi cell phone switching to VoIP, as the T-Mobile phone does, the cell phone will use its normal signalling and spectrum.

Interference is a major challenge between femtocells and existing cellular networks.   Also, because the cellular network is built on licensed bandwidth, the femtocell access point base station must meet the requirements for the licensed cellphone bandwidth.  These requirements include knowing the precise location of the femtocell antenna and base station.  If femtocells roll out on any scale like WiFi access points, one demanding challenge would be to report the locations of each nomadic femtocell.  For example, a femtocell located in Europe could be delivering and transmitting calls from a US carrier.  This is not unlike VoIP where customers in India are using US telephone numbers.   The difference with the VoIP analogy is that the femtocell is transmitting in radio bandwidth that is regulated differently by each country.  In addition, there is a domestic spectrum challenge. T-Mobile, for example, could be transmitting and receiving signals through a nomadic femtocell on T-Mobile’s licensed spectrum in a location in the U.S. where T-Mobile does not have a license for that spectrum.

WiFi does not have the spectrum challenges that femtocells have, as WiFi is unlicensed.  However, femtocells, if incorporated in DSL or WiFi routers, will become ubiquitous and help move traffic from costly towers and expensive backhaul and into the home network.   Cell phone traffic may soon be riding on the comsumer’s internet access the same way Vonage is doing today.  What a twist for the internet carriers who own or operate cell phone companies and have been fighting to keep VoIP service off of their networks.

What are your thoughts on this quiet revolution?