Ubiquisys breaks magic $100 barrier for femtos
Femto-Engine system fast tracks design and production. iSuppli sees unit growth to 39.6m in 2013
Published: 30 March, 2010
READ MORE: Ubiquisys | Femtocell
Femtocells are entering the carrier mainstream, as AT&T expands its Microcell product nationwide and Vodafone UK targets its Sure Signal offering at businesses, as well as homes. But ever since the cellcos became interested in the potential of the tiny base stations to improve indoor coverage and ease pressure on the macro network, they have called for true consumer grade price points - under $100 unsubsidized was essential, said Vodafone.
The AT&T product costs more than that, at $150 if the consumer pays upfront, though Vodafone offers SureSignal for a £50 one-off price. Both these units are subsidized by the carrier, and some operators expect to have to provide femtos for free in the near future. So cost effectiveness is more important than ever, and UK femto pioneer Ubiquisys claims to have made progress towards the $100 target.
The company has done this with its Femto-Engine, an 'out-of-the-box' solution to reduce R&D effort, cost and time to market for OEMs. The Femto-Engine system comes with all the software needed for real world deployment, plus a set of "hardware blueprints, operational systems and manufacturing suppor" to fast track design and production.
Reference design approaches are important to femtocells, which - despite being base stations - have the economics of mass market consumer electronics gear, and will be very dependent on the ODM community. Silicon leader picoChip has released a series of reference platforms to speed femto development, especially as the technology moves into LTE.
"Operators have long demanded a sub-$100 price point so they can offer femtocells for free," said Ubiquisys CEO Chris Gilbert. "Our Femto-Engine system is mobilizing a new ecosystem of manufacturers who are fully equipped to meet this demand, and we have already received our first 100,000-unit order using this model."
A recent report by iSuppli predicted that femtocell unit sales would more than treble this year, rising from 571,000 in 2009 to 1.9m. Growth will then accelerate, it says, reaching 7.2m units in 2011, up 289% year-on-year, and rising a further 232% to get to 23.9m units in 2012. The biggest growth spurt will come in 2013, which will see unit sales up 657% to 39.6m.
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