Date: 14/03/2012

In-Stat: 30.7M WCDMA/HSPA residential femtocells to be shipped in 2015

In-Stat research forecasts the value of outdoor metropolitan picocells in the quantity needed to provide sufficient services for an evolving 4G voice and data market will jump to $6.9 billion in 2015.

"The need for outdoor metropolitan picocell base stations is being driven by several factors. First, while the standard method of deploying macrocells (cell towers) has been a very cost-efficient way for wireless operators to deploy 2G and 3G networks quickly-providing large amounts of coverage quickly-the macrocell solution is not ideal for 4G deployments like WiMAX and LTE," says Chris Kissel, Senior Analyst. "The problem has to do with limited spectrum and the need for high-capacity and blazing-fast data rates. Silicon providers like Cavium and Texas Instruments, both of which have made SoC solutions for macro base stations, are reworking their platforms to include chipsets for these devices. Picochip (acquired by Mindspeed) is scaling its platform upward to address this market, and Intel, which has had a limited presence in cellular infrastructure SoCs, introduced two product modules with Ubiquisys at Mobile World Congress."

Recent research found the following:
In 2015, the retail value of femtocells in Eastern Europe is estimated to reach $265 million.
Roughly 30.7 million WCDMA/HSPA residential femtocells will be shipped in 2015.
Worldwide outdoor metropolitan picocell unit shipments will have a CAGR of 248% over the five-year forecast period.
In 2011, the value of voice and data services hosted by small cell devices is $3.2 billion globally.