Demand for improved 3G reception to drive growth of 3G Femtocell Subscribers to Exceed 15 million During 2012 says Juniper Research

Hampshire, UK – 10th September 2009: Demand for improved 3G reception for residential mobile voice and broadband use will be principal driving forces behind the growth of femtocells in the next few years, with subscribers exceeding 15 million globally during 2012.

The Femtocells research evaluated three adoption scenarios, and found that there is significant upside market potential for subscriber growth beyond these levels especially in developed nations. Juniper Research also found that femtocells will begin as standalone units but become integrated into the home wireless router in future, to form a "multi function mix and match" home network services gateway: router vendors are already working towards this.

Femtocells report author Howard Wilcox gave more details: "Surprisingly for some people, surveys such as that by Orange[1] in March show that most mobile usage actually takes place from our homes. Poor indoor signal strength and slow web access are quite common problems faced by users. Femtocells offer an attractive solution – both for users and network operators who themselves can achieve economies through data traffic offload."

Further report findings from the Juniper Research report include:

•    Shipments of standalone femtocells will take off over the 2011/12 period, but integrated units will be larger in value by 2014.

*         The top three regions for femtocell subscribers in 2014 will be Western Europe, North America and the Far East & China.

*         Revenues from new, advanced femtocell services will gain traction as soon as 2011.

With the femtocell market poised for takeoff, Juniper evaluates the impact of different rates of femtocell penetration rates and service package traction on the opportunities for access points and service revenues.

The report contains three comprehensive six year forecasting suites cover all the key market parameters including standalone and integrated access points, subscriber numbers, and service revenues for each of four types of service package.

Whitepaper and further details of the study, '3G Femtocells and Beyond: Opportunities & Service Scenarios in the Home 2009–2014' can be freely downloaded from the Juniper Research website. Alternatively please contact John Levett at john.levett@juniperresearch.com, telephone +44(0)1256 830002.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

[1] Note to Editors: Orange's Exposure 2 survey 24th March 2009