Femto-based access points to top 103M by 2013

The fixed-mobile convergence market is being driven forward by new services like T-Mobile USA Inc.’s @Home service and Orange SA’s unik service in Europe, and the market will face its first real competition from services like Sprint Nextel Corp.’s femtocell-based Airave solution.
ABI Research predicts 103 million access points from both types of services will be in service by 2013.
“We expect cellular-based femtocells to have taken over the baton from UMA- and SiP-based Wi-Fi solutions by 2013, seizing 62% of the market,” said Stuart Carlaw, VP and research director at ABI Research. “Although UMA-based Wi-Fi solutions have seen early gains in greenfield markets, these solutions have not proliferated much outside their current carrier footprints. This can be attributed partly to the carriers’ desire to assess femtocell developments, but also to lingering concerns regarding the concept of Wi-Fi based fixed-mobile convergence.”