Femtocells, the mini-base stations intended to improve poor cellular coverage and capacity indoors, have been getting something of a bad rap lately. Although Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T have femtocell services on offer, none have put their weight behind marketing femtocells aggressively.
However the results of a recent online survey of 1000 consumers in the United States suggest that operators are losing out on a significant portion of the market due to their lack of initiative in marketing femtocells or educating consumers on a mass-market scale.
�Close to 25% of respondents to our survey were �very� or �extremely� interested in using a femtocell,� reports principal analyst Aditya Kaul. �Consistent with last year�s survey results, this shows that interest remains high. A further 31% were �somewhat� interested. So even in the absence of real marketing by carriers, more than 50% of respondents seem interested in the idea. This significant finding shows that more aggressive marketing and consumer education campaigns by carriers should be able to produce positive outcomes for the market.�
However some operators are already experimenting with bundled packages that could alleviate consumers� price concerns.
The survey�s results also suggest that attitudes to femtocells are to some degree related to age, with younger respondents more open to the idea of femtocells than older ones. Says Kaul: �The age bias, with younger consumers more enthusiastic about femtocells, underscores the fact that carriers need to focus on the younger demographic when selling femtocell services.�
�US Consumer Interest in Femtocells� analyzes the results of a survey of 1,000 mobile phone users in the United States that asked whether they would be interested in a femtocell device or not, and the reasons for each attitude. It also presents the demographic details of the survey respondents.
No comments:
Post a Comment