Motorola has announced the results from its European study into consumer attitudes towards Femtocells. While the technology is still relatively unheard of amongst consumers with over three-quarters not being familiar with Femtocells, adoption is set to rise. When key benefits of Femtocells – such as increased mobile coverage in the home, improved call quality and lower cost ‘in home' voice call charges – were explained, over 40 percent of respondents said they (definitely or probably) plan to make a purchase in the next 12 months.
The study of over 1,800 mobile and Internet users across six countries revealed that Poland has the highest rate of early Femtocell adopters with 67 percent planning to purchase a femtocell service, followed by Spain (62 percent), Italy (61 percent), France (34 percent), UK (34 percent), and Germany (33 percent).
The consumer benefits of a Femtocell-enabled service include improved indoor mobile coverage, maximum data rates, consolidated communications billing and reduced "in-home" call charges, with a seamless communications experience as consumers roam from inside to outside their homes. These benefits are all possible for customers using their existing 3G handsets.
Femtocells are set to change traditional phone usage patterns. In Poland, 41 percent of consumers questioned said the technology would make them use their mobile phone more around the house, closely followed by the Spanish respondents (40 percent). The survey also showed that Femtocells are viewed as an extension to the family media environment, with 51 percent of respondents extremely or very interested in a ‘family plan' that allowed various members of a household to connect to the Femtocell.
While Femtocells can only be operated by service provider with licensed spectrum, 54 percent of respondents showed a preference to purchase their Femtocell from their existing broadband vendor which indicates that consumers may see Femtocells as an extension of the broadband service.
Also, those questioned showed a clear interest in bundled communications service that includes a Femtocell, with over a third of respondents interested. This indicates a significant opportunity for integrated operators with both mobile and broadband services.
"Our study shows that consumers would fully welcome the enhanced performance and cost benefits that Femtocells deliver," says Joe Cozzolino, corporate vice president and general manager, Motorola Home and Networks Mobility EMEA. "Consumers are demanding more from their communications providers, and are looking forward to rich personal media experiences. As a leader in Femtocell solutions we envisage they will form an integral part of the home communications environment, enabling operators to attract and retain new customers through enhanced services and new applications while potentially reducing the cost of delivery."
As more devices enter the home, the importance of ‘plug-and-play' for ease of use is becoming ever more apparent. The survey shows that consumers would be more willing to purchase a Femtocell if they did not have to worry about set-up, highlighting the importance of self-configuring features of the femtocell together with the operators' provisioning and management systems. As home systems become more complex, users expect equipment to work straight out of the box.
Stuart Carlaw, vice president of mobile wireless at ABI Research stated that: "This pent up demand for a Femtocell like product does not only start and finish with voice services. The survey clearly outlined that there is significant opportunity to link the handset into the connected home concept that leverages rich multimedia services as well as voice. It is imperative that vendors and carriers recognise this at the earliest outset and engineer products and service bundles that facilitate this post haste."