US telecom carrier Sprint won't meet its original target of making femtocells available nationwide by the end of 2008, judging by research from analysts at Heavy Reading.
Instead, the survey suggests that GaAs manufacturers aiming to get their PAs into these home handset signal boosters will have to target ramp-ups in the second half of 2009.
“Launch in the second half of 2008 is unlikely and may reflect internal targets rather than real commercial launches,” writes Gabriel Brown, the report's author.
6 percent of the 111 telecom service provider professionals surveyed expect deployment this year, but 33 percent said that they would not be launching femtocells until 2011 or later.
Brown highlights the period from the second half of 2009 through to 2010 as the critical launch period, when 54 percent of respondents said they would begin femtocell offerings.
Femtocells offer the dual benefit of improving signal strength for wireless handsets and reducing data flow through the carrier's cellular network, by moving it directly through a wired network instead. Although these factors are intimately related, most respondents saw improved coverage as the most important factor in deploying femtocells.
The telephone companies asked are considering a number of different radio interface technologies for use with femtocells. These range from “surprisingly strong” interest in stalwart 2G standard GSM, through 3G, including HSPA as the most popular single protocol, and on to next-generation technologies like LTE and mobile WiMAX.
Although the femtocell market is likely to look more like that for wireless modems than handsets, it remains an important opportunity for compound semiconductor firms.
Skyworks Solutions is already supplying femtocell maker Samsung, which in turn supplies Airave units for Sprint. With experience as the key supplier for Intel's wireless LAN products, Anadigics is also following femtocells closely, and is due to make an announcement concerning its offering in this market in September.