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3G home gateways: opportunities and challengesProduct Type: Market Research ReportPublished by: Ovum Plc Published: January 2007 Product Code: R464-230 Description This report examines residential femtocells, also called cellular home gateways. These are small cellular access points which provide cellular wireless access inside the home and open up new business opportunities for the mobile operator.3G home gateway solutions are still in their early development stages. As of early 2007, only femtocell prototypes are being used in lab testing. Operators’ trials in 2007 will have to analyse two key technical issues: firstly, radio interference between the femtocells and the public infrastructure’s macrocells; secondly, the core network integration of femtocells. Should the cellular home gateways be a success, there could be millions of new cellular access points added to cellular networks. There is thus an important scaleability challenge, both in terms of radio management and network architecture. Included in this report are forecasts for Western Europe and market development scenarios. Table of Contents Key messagesDefinitions Why put a cellular access point in the home? High-level principles of the femtocell concept The mobile is used a lot at home Benefits of femtocells Challenges of developing femtocells Key requirements Network architecture Operators will push for a standard Femtocell products Strategies for operators Potential business models for operators Service strategies Business case issues Market development scenario Femtocell strategies for new entrants Table of figures Figure 1 Overview of cell types in cellular networks Figure 2 The femtocell concept Figure 3 Connect femtocells to the RNC via the Iub interface Figure 4 Manage femtocells with concentrators Figure 5 Adapt the UMA solution Figure 6 SIP/IMS Figure 7 Overview of possible business models for femtocells Figure 8 Revenues and costs for the femtocell business case Figure 9 Femtocell market development scenario Figure 10 Residential femtocells in Western Europe |
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