What about rebates for using femtocells?

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor

If carriers are so behind in expanding their cellular networks and handling the increased bandwidth, would they be willing to pay for offloading help?

Deployments of femtocell technology, which provides localized wireless connectivity, have doubled globally over the last nine months. There are now 13 commercial deployments. Today, TMCnet reported on an ABI Research Report forecasting that mobile data offloading will triple in the next five years from 16 to 48 percent.

Femtocells help carriers manage their wireless capacity by offloading voice services to a customer’s existing home broadband connection. For consumers, in areas of poor signal strength, including the Bay Area, this can help boost call quality. I imagine that small enterprises could have the same difficulties.

As carrier networks build their coverage, many areas are still experiencing spotty coverage and dropped calls. Femtocells for enterprises might seem to be a solution, by offloading the voice services to the broadband connection. While the user gets better coverage, the carriers are also getting help in offloading their overloaded cellular networks.

You would think that the carriers would welcome help in the offloading, rather than trying to charge extra. But as Om Malik of GigaOM points out, some carriers are taking advantage of charging even more.

But what about this…

• What if enterprises opened up part of their network as free Wi-Fi for their employees and visitors. Guests to the campus can use the free Wi-Fi, saving the burden on the carrier network.
• What if enterprises invested in femtocells to help with this Wi-Fi.
  Would carriers offer a rebate to enterprises for this?

Enterprises can also benefit by using a service such as iPass, to move employees to the least-cost connection. IT can ensure that a 3G card, just because it’s plugged into the laptop, is not used automatically.  iPass services can also help select the “best” Wi-Fi based on strength, role, and location. This can also be applied to smartphones, moving their connections to Wi-Fi.

Using the femtocell can be cheaper for employees that are visiting and roaming. The service can also switch callers back to 3G and off of the femtocell, to avoid the additional carrier charges. Tracking usage should also give enterprises more negotiation ability in working with carriers, finding the best solution for their mobile employees.

But if smaller enterprises did make the choice to use femtocells, they should get credits or other rebates from the carriers. You would think.

Tags: 3G network, cost management