Globally, the femtocell market, including 2G, 3G, and 4G femtocells, rose 66% in 4Q12 from 3Q12, according to a new report from Infonetics Research. The firm estimates the femtocell market totaled $425 million for all of 2012, up 21% from the previous year.
“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.”
Some other notes:
- Public space femtocells accounted for slightly more revenue than consumer femtocells in 2012
- 4G femtocell revenue is growing at a 165% 5-year compound annual growth rate (2012 to 2017)
- While only 3% 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 3 femtocell market share leaders in 4Q12 and for the full year 2012 are Airvana, Samsung, and Cisco/ip.access.