Femtocells to dominate market for indoor cell coverage, says In-Stat

While femtocells were virtually non-existent in 2006, and deployed by one operator in 2007, they will make up 61% of small cellular base station revenues by 2013, reports In-Stat. Microcells, picocells, and femtocells provide indoor cell phone coverage in a cost-effective manner.

"As mobile operators migrate from larger base stations to smaller access points, the number of units deployed will explode dramatically," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "In-Stat expects the smaller and cheaper cells to be more immune to the recession, compared with more expensive macro and micro base station shipments."

According to In-State, femtocells, picocells, and microcells are expected to surpass 15 million units, while worldwide annual femtocell semiconductor revenues will approach US$400 million by 2013.

In terms of suppliers, Sprint was the first to market with a femtocell-based service in 2007, while others entered the market in 2008. In mid-2009, Airwalk introduced a new enterprise femtocell. These products have the capacity of a traditional picocell and the ease-of-use of a femtocell, In-Stat notes.