More Femto Optimism

I’ve been buckled down recently and haven’t come up for much blog air. But this seemed like an important thing to highlight...

Promising news from Infonetics for those with a vested interest in the femtocell market. In an October FMC and femtocell report, the research firm says that combined, sales of FMC network element equipment and femtocell equipment are forecast to grow to $7.4 billion worldwide by 2013. The report also stated the number of 2G/3G femtocells is expected to increase five-fold from 2009 to 2010.

"So far, we have found no evidence of the economic downturn having a major impact on the pace of FMC rollouts, and it has had only a mild effect on the femtocell space,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research and co-author of the report. “In the first half of 2009, we saw unabated UMA rollouts at T-Mobile USA, Orange, and Rogers Wireless in Canada, with Turk Telekom joining the bandwagon more recently."

Co-author Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices at Infonetics, added: “As for the femtocell market…..We expect at least a dozen major operators to launch in 2010, giving this market a kick-start.”

You can read the report highlights on Infonetics.com.

UMA dominates, reports Infonetics

Infonetics releases fairly regular reports on the FMC market. In October 2008, Infonetics principal analyst Stéphane Téral, wrote that “UMA continues to dominate the worldwide seamless FMC market.”

In the latest March 2009 report, Stéphane is reporting much of the same. He wrote:

“…Orange and T-Mobile and [now] Rogers Wireless are driving the UMA market and do not plan to slow down their deployments; in fact, they see the slowdown as an opportunity to lure more FMC subscribers."

Infonetics also reported:

• The FMC and femtocell equipment markets will thrive during the current economic downturn.
• Combined, sales of FMC network element equipment and femtocell equipment are expected to grow at a healthy rate through the economic downturn and really take off in 2011, reaching nearly $8 billion worldwide by 2013.
• Worldwide UMA network controller (UNC) revenue is forecast to grow at a 44% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2008 to 2013.
• The number of seamless FMC subscribers jumped 413% to 8.6 million worldwide in 2008 and is forecast to grow nearly 10-fold to 82 million by 2013.

Personally, I appreciate and second Stephane’s optimism about the UMA and FMC markets and think he’s right on track.

FMC market remains hot

In a recent report, Infonetics Research projects that FMC network equipment will grow 82% in 2008, and that the FMC phone market reached $7.6 billion in 2008.

“UMA continues to dominate the worldwide seamless FMC market,” said Infonetics principal analyst Stéphane Téral. “We expect all the phone and equipment segments in the niche FMC market to grow rapidly, with the economic downturn actually making T-Mobile USA’s offer more attractive to stretched consumer.”

At UMA Today, we completely agree.