Communication is moving into the age of convergence, audio/video traversing through various devices, and the under-lying architecture, is also seemingly moving towards hybrid architecture. Convergence architecture would typically involve a hybrid mix of networks, that carry voice & data, over fixed line, also get transported over the wireless infrastructure, this is commonly known as ‘fixed mobile convergence’ (FMC).

FMC is the new strategy adopted by operators, to save on the high OPEX costs, and at the same time passing certain benefits to their end-users.  FMC simply means, that operators, leverage the benefit of the traditional wire-line network, and with the combined support of the wireless networks, for the carry of voice and data services.

In the present context, we often see, that in apartment blocks, basement floors, inside hospitals, and inside buildings, rural areas, a drop in the mobile call, or the call being rendered as lost, or the mobile signal rendered as weak, leading to drop in the voice quality, these issues can be commonly observed, by many end users.

Under this premise, femto cells is being introduced, which promises to address the above problems. Femto cells are miniature base stations, they are low-power cellular access points meant for the home environment. Simply, plugging a femto cell, into the cable modem, or a DSL router, would enable the signal strength on the mobile phone, and thus increases the cell strength.

The femto base station constitutes a standard based radio, that operates on technologies such as UMTS/HSPA.  The femto base station like a router, is connected to a traditional DSL line, for the end subscriber to make/receive mobile calls indoors, at the same time the advantage of enhanced voice quality

Similar to a router device, femto base stations features a cellular antenna to boost the available cellular signals within a small area, the device is connected over to a broadband connection, and uses voice over IP technology, connecting cellular phone calls to the mobile operator’s network.

As operators use specified licensed spectrums for cellular services, the femto base stations would be using the particular operator network, and if the end subscriber wishes to migrate to another operator, the end user has to get a new femto cell base router.

From an analytical view-point, the primary aim of femto cell base stations, aims to combat the poor signal strength, that is commonly observed at basements of buildings, rural areas, and where there is poor signal availability. 

The use of femto cells, placed inside buildings, carries voice and data, over the traditional DSL line, then the handoffs takes place over to the mobile towers, which further carries the voice and data.

The second factor, femto cells provide is to enable support for older technology handsets with newer technology support. The old handset like a 2G enabled handset, can now act as a 3G handset, with certain capabilities like data transfer, voice quality, further can also tap into the wi-fi, and wimax networks – all these can be got from the use of femto cells.

However, the flip for femto cells is compounded, with the fact that if the demand for femto cells goes up, then handset makers, may have a raw deal with newer technology handset, with most end users opting for femto cells rather than scaling up to a newer technology.

Third factor is the deployment costs, that are associated with a femto cell are marginal in comparison with macro cell or larger base stations deployment, as the customer bears the cost of the femto cell box, the power consumption and DSL subscription costs. Macro cells are larger base stations which are capacitated to handle larger amount of voice/data traffic.

Although, femto cells, sounds highly innovative for now, and has many plus points, yet its success remains to be seen, how operators popularize it, and how end users adopt it on a larger scale.  For now, femto cells adoption looks an imminent solution, to solve poor signal problems, and provide revenues for operators.