Femtocells up 66 percent in final quarter of 2012; big 2013 expected as 4G femtos ramp

ENGLAND: Infonetics Research released excerpts from its fourth quarter (4Q12) and year-end Femtocell Equipment report, which tracks femtocells by market segment, technology, and form factor.

“Femtocell sales are up for the third straight quarter and on a year-over-year basis, though growth to this point is modest for a market that’s still in evolution,” reports Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and carrier WiFi at Infonetics Research. “Price-per-unit is eroding and shipment volumes are rising, but both are intrinsically linked and neither has happened fast enough to drive a more rapid acceleration in adoption to date.”

Webb adds: “That said, we believe femtocells have sufficient market drivers and support among operators to sustain continuous annual revenue and unit growth through at least 2017, starting with a very big 2013, driven by strong 3G femto sales and fast-ramping 4G femtos.”

Highlights
* Globally, the femtocell market, including 2G, 3G, and 4G femtocells, is up 66 percent in 4Q12 from 3Q12.
* For the full year 2012, the femtocell market totaled $425 million, up 21 percent from a year ago.
* Public space femtocells accounted for slightly more revenue than consumer femtocells in 2012.
* 4G femtocell revenue is growing at a 165 percent five-year CAGR (2012 to 2017).
* While only 3 percent of units shipped in 2012 were integrated femtocells—meaning femtocell technology built into broadband CPE like DSL routers/gateways—Infonetics anticipates they will be widely adopted over the long term, eventually making up about half of all units by 2017.
* The top three femtocell market share leaders in 4Q12 and for the full year 2012 are Airvana, Samsung, and Cisco/ip.access.