The Femto Forum and international research firm Parks Associates have announced that femtocells, small wireless base stations designed to provide five bars of local wireless signal strength, are climbing up global consumers’ “want” lists as determined by the most comprehensive survey to date of consumer attitudes toward femtocells in developed markets. The survey, which included 6,100 consumers across six countries (China, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States), found that nearly 60% of broadband households with mobile phones are interested in femtocells, with improved indoor voice coverage serving as the leading driver for interest. 

The survey revealed that not only is the quality of in-building voice services the chief driver for femtocells, it is also the single most important criteria by which consumers rate their mobile operator. The improvement that femtocells bring to voice services could prevent up to 42% of consumers currently considering leaving their operator from doing so. Furthermore, 18% of consumers are willing to switch to an operator offering femtocells and 36% of consumers in multicarrier households might switch carriers in order to consolidate with a single provider offering the service.

The findings also show that heavy mobile Wi-Fi users are among the most interested in femtocells, with approximately 83% finding them appealing. This finding contradicts the notion that Wi-Fi alone resolves all indoor coverage issues, and can be attributed to femtocells’ abilities to improve voice coverage and preserve battery life. In fact, heavy mobile data users of all descriptions were so interested in the technology that they were willing to pay the most for femtocell services among all surveyed.

Among those who wanted femtocells, 68% found at least one advanced femtocell service either very or extremely appealing. Such services include Virtual Home Number, which rings every cell phone in the home, or Family Alerts, which warn when a subscriber such as a child or elderly relative has left or returned home.

The survey also underlined interesting regional variations. For example, survey participants in China were most aware of femtocell technology and also found it most attractive with 81% of those surveyed finding femtocells either very or extremely appealing. Japan was the only market in which the leading driver for femtocells among survey respondents was not improved voice coverage but rather faster data speeds.