Most people in Europe are still blissfully unaware of what a femtocell is. However, once the potential benefits of the home base station tech are explained a significant chunk want one, a survey has found.
For the benefit of the three-quarters of Europeans surveyed who can't tell the difference between a femtocell and a refreshing wet wipe, femtocells are small home base stations which make use of fixed-line broadband connections to boost mobile reception indoors.
Femtocells are also the great hope of mobile operators as--provided they gain mass market adoption--they could enable operators to reliably serve rich 3G services such as video to consumers at home, without having to invest big bucks ramping up the density of their networks by erecting more real base stations.
Despite femtocells' current low profile on the consumer radar, the survey--conducted by ABI Research for mobile operator Motorola--found significant appetite for the tech once the great unwashed are told about 'key benefits', such as increased mobile coverage in the home, improved call quality and lower cost voice calls at home.
More than 40 percent of Europeans said they 'definitely or probably' plan to make a purchase in the next 12 months.
Poland was the most femtocell-friendly nation, according to the survey, with two-thirds (67 percent) planning to purchase a femtocell service in the next 12 months, followed by Spain (62 percent) and Italy (61 percent). In the other three nations surveyed, the technology seized the imagination of around a third of consumers: France (34 percent), the United Kingdom (34 percent), and Germany (33 percent).
The research, which polled more than 1,800 mobile and Web users in the six countries, also found more than half (54 percent) of respondents would like to be able to buy their femtocell from their existing broadband vendor, indicating they may see it as an extension of their fat pipe service.
In addition, there is clear consumer desire for a service that works straight out of the box, avoiding complicated set up procedures. Bundled communications services including a femtocell were popular too, with more than a third of respondents showing interest--good news for integrated operators with both mobile and broadband offerings.
Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.
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