At least a million femtocells are expected to have been shipped by the end of 2010, says ABI Research. This forecast indicates that femtocell rollouts have more than doubled in the last year.

ABI Research forecasts more than 54 million femtocell shipments in 2015.

Initially Femtocells were targeted to the consumer market, but enterprise/business grade femtocells are on offerings as well. 

Apart from providing basic voice coverage, integration with IP-PBX systems is a potential driver of femtocells. Outdoor metro-grade femtocells have also seen recent deployments.

According to mobile networks practice director Aditya Kaul, “The critical factor for femtocell adoption will be the operators in North America and, to an even greater extent, in China. Chinese operators are still trying to form a view about the femtocell value proposition. In North America, the question is which operator will be most aggressive with femtocell rollouts. AT&T is already proactive, but it appears that Sprint and Verizon are gearing up for a second wave of femtocell deployments.”

Falling prices are providing a boost too – WCDMA femtocells are now priced below the critical $100 psychological threshold, leading some operators to give them away for free. Softbank in Japan was the first; Vodafone in Greece and AT&T in the US are selectively following suit for high-value customers.

source:ABI Research