Skip to main content

Enterprise Femtocells Gain Majority of the $4.3B Market

The bring your own device (BYOD) to work phenomenon continues to impact IT budgets as demand for better in-office wireless coverage increases with each new wave of mobile business productivity applications.

As an example, Voice over IP (VoIP) and emerging video-based collaboration apps typically create the need for improved Wi-Fi or broadband 3G/4G cell coverage.

Enterprise femtocell deployments will capture 97 percent of the $4.3 billion market revenue in 2019, outpacing consumer-residential femtocells, according to the latest global market study ABI Research.

While femtocells are successful in the consumer market, both mobile network operators and wireless LAN vendors are eager to participate in these lucrative new mobile workplace deployments.

"The femtocell business model becomes clear for small and medium enterprises. The cost of a Distributed Antenna System cannot be justified for these firms, but yet there is an increasing demand for mobile voice services," said Ahmed Ali, research analyst at ABI Research.

Other sources of mobile network service provider revenue driving this transition are value-added services.

Although Enterprise femtocells cost more and deploy in larger numbers, in the long term, device prices are bound to come down. Mobile network operators will look for additional customized services to maintain margins.

Moreover, location-based analytics is one of the most important aspects of future femtocell deployments and provide tailored services for different vertical markets.

The market share of different femtocell access technologies also changes with the rise of multi-mode femtocells. Although 3G femtocells will have the biggest share of femtocell shipments every year, especially in the North America and Asia-Pacific regions, 3G/4G multimode femtocells are taking off.

Top chip and equipment providers pushing towards this approach include Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Broadcom.

In the near-term, multi-mode femtocell shipments will find its biggest market in North America where the fast growing LTE and small cells markets will benefit from the dual access capabilities.

Popular posts from this blog

AI Supercycle: Server Market Growth Surge

The worldwide server market has entered a new phase defined almost entirely by artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure economics rather than traditional enterprise refresh cycles.   The latest market data shows robust growth and a structural shift in where value is created, who captures it, and which architectures are setting the pace for the next decade. IDC reports that worldwide server revenue reached a record $112.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025, representing a striking 61 percent year-over-year increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. For context, this means the market is adding tens of billions of dollars in incremental quarterly spend, driven overwhelmingly by AI and accelerated computing requirements.  IT Server Market Development Over the first three quarters of 2025, server revenue has already reached $314.2 billion, meaning the market has nearly doubled in size compared to 2024, underscoring how AI buildouts have compressed several years of exp...