101 Release One Home Overview

SMALL CELL FORUM
RELEASE One
scf.io/
DOCUMENT
101.01.01
Release One: Home
Overview
February 2013
www.scf.io/
www.smallcellforum.org
Small Cell Forum supports the wide-scale adoption of small cells. Its mission is
to accelerate small cell adoption to change the shape of mobile networks and
maximise the potential of the mobile internet.
Small cells is an umbrella term for operator-controlled, low-powered radio access nodes,
including those that operate in licensed spectrum and unlicensed carrier-grade Wi-Fi. Small
cells typically have a range from 10 metres to several hundred metres. These contrast with
a typical mobile macrocell that might have a range of up to several tens of kilometres. The
term small cells covers femtocells, picocells, microcells and metrocells.
Small Cell Forum is a not-for-profit, international organisation, with membership open
to providers of small cell technology and to operators with spectrum licences for
providing mobile services.
At the time of writing, the Small Cell Forum has 141 members including 68 operators
representing more than 3 billion mobile subscribers 46 per cent of the global total
as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative
start-ups.
The Small Cell Forum is technology-agnostic and independent. It is not a standardssetting body, but works with standards organisations and regulators worldwide to
provide an aggregated view of the small cell market.
This document forms part of the Small Cell Forums Release One. The theme of
Release One is the Home, and includes the complete body of work operators will need
to know in order to deploy:
Femtocells intended for home or small office applications. These applications
are based typically indoors and involve locations where a single femtocell is
usually sufficient. Both 3GPP and 3GPP2 femtocells are included in the scope
of this Release.
Release One also contains significant advanced work packages that will inform future
release themes, including enterprise, metro, and rural small cells.
The Small Cell Forum Release website can be found here www.scf.io
A description and roadmap for the release programme itself can be found here
www.scf.io/doc/100
If you would like more information about the Small Cell Forum or would like to
be included on our mailing list, please contact:
Email info@smallcellforum.org
Post Small Cell Forum, PO Box 23, GL11 5WA UK
Member Services Lynne Price-Walker lynne@smallcellforum.org
For a full list of members and further information visit our website
www.smallcellforum.org
Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Issue date: 20 February 2013
Version: 101.01.01
Summary
This document provides an all you need to know guide to the commercial deployment of 3G
femtocells. It is written for operators considering deployment and for vendors to ensure their solutions
meet with the widest possible range of operator needs.
We provide here an overview of all the pieces of the femtocell jigsaw as follows:
Market Drivers: Understand how femtocells can best benefit your customers while serving your
own business and technical interests
Business Case: Develop a fully articulated business case for femtocells, reflecting a wide range
of operator targets and deployment models
Spectrum and Interference Management: Be aware of must-have techniques and
configurations to ensure spectrum can be reused efficiently without creating harmful interference
but making best opportunity of femtocells capability to enhance coverage, capacity and user
experience without excessive operational complexity
Architecture and Standards: Identify the key standards and technical configurations which
todays femtocells should adhere to, enabling you to ensure that your vendors are fully compliant
Interoperability: Understand the process to ensuring that the standards are complied with,
interpreted in a consistent manner and enhanced in the light of operational experience via an ongoing programme of industry plugfests.
Feature Profile. Follow the development steps towards the first femtocell Profile, allowing
operators to specify a common baseline for femtocell functionality and for vendors to
demonstrate explicit compliance with the most common operator needs
Regulatory: Support regulators in ensuring that operators are permitted to use their existing
spectrum and networks to achieve social and economic benefits which accrue to femtocell users
Value Added Services Identification of the opportunity for value-added femtocell-based
services, supported by a standards-based API and developer community
Market progress and Learnings from Early Adopters. Keep pace with the proliferation of
small cell networks and learn best practices derived from the experiences of the leading
femtocell operators
This work represents the distillation of several years consensus building, standards creation and
deployment experience by the operator and vendor members of Small Cell Forum (SCF) and its industry
partners, including 3GPP, 3GPP2 and the Broadband Forum. These collaborations have been seminal in
establishing that consensus-based standards reflecting market needs and small cell innovation were
available in a sufficiently timely fashion to support todays million-scale femtocell deployments. The key
achievements of that collaboration and internal Forum work are fully reflected in this document and the
supporting body of work comprising SCF Release One home.
Building on these foundations, the femtocell market has grown rapidly in both scale and extent
internationally, to the point where femtocells today are an essential component of the offering by any
competitive operator to their customers and a vital foundation for the deployment of the wider varieties of
small cells in enterprise, public, indoor and outdoor environments.

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Contents
1.
1.1
1.2
1.3
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
4.
4.1
4.2
4.3
5.
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
6.
6.1
Introduction and Contents ............................................... 1

Motivation for this overview ................................................. 1
Contents ........................................................................... 1
Supporting documents ........................................................ 2
Market drivers Why Femtocells? ................................... 5
Coverage .......................................................................... 5
Capacity & Quality of Experience .......................................... 6
Economics ......................................................................... 6
Femtocells: Meeting the Market Needs .................................. 7
Femtocells in relation to other solutions ................................ 8
Consumer needs ................................................................ 9
Initial Barriers that have been overcome ............................... 9
Business Case ................................................................ 10
Key elements of business case ............................................10
Modelling the femtocell business case ..................................10
Business case outcomes .....................................................11
Femtocell economics in the real world ..................................13
Radio spectrum and interference management .............. 14
Interference management: the central magic of cellular
networks ..........................................................................14
Examining challenging interference scenarios ........................14
Outcomes: interference is manageable, yielding huge capacity
and user experience gains ..................................................15
Architecture and standards ............................................ 17
The role of standards .........................................................17
Candidates and choices ......................................................17
Operator requirements .......................................................18
Wider operator needs ........................................................19
3GPP standards for 3G (WCDMA) femtocells .........................19
3GPP2 activities related to 3G (CDMA) femtocells ..................21
TR-196: The Broadband Forum data model for managing
femtocells ........................................................................21
How the standards meet the market requirements .................22
Interoperability ............................................................. 24
Why is open interoperability a founding principle of Small Cell
Forum? ............................................................................24

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6.2
6.3
Plugfests: Small Cell Forum cooperation with ETSI .................24

A further vital step towards open interoperability for
femtocells ........................................................................25
7.
Regulatory issues .......................................................... 26
8.
Value-added services ..................................................... 28
8.1
How can femtocells enable value-added services? ..................28
8.2
Femtocell service examples ................................................28
8.3
What has Small Cell Forum done to enable development of
femtocell services? ............................................................29
9.
Market progress ............................................................. 30
9.1
The femtocell ecosystem ....................................................30
9.2
Operator deployments .......................................................30
9.3
Numbers of femtocells deployed ..........................................31
9.4
Forecasts .........................................................................31
10.
Conclusions ................................................................... 33
10.1
What has been achieved? ...................................................33
10.2
A formula for success ........................................................33
10.3
Into the future ..................................................................33
Abbreviations (across Release One) ......................................... 35
References ............................................................................... 38
Tables
Table 1-1
Full set of documents under SCF Release One Home ........................... 4
Table 4-1
The small cell & macrocell network has an air-interface capacity limit
nearly 100x that of the macro alone ............................................... 15
Table 5-1
How femtocells standards meet market requirements ....................... 23
Figures
Figure 2-1
An increasing proportion of mobile usage is indoors [source: Informa] .. 5
Figure 2-3
In-home mobile voice call problems impact customer churn Source:

Parks Associates ............................................................................ 6
Figure 2-4
Femtocells are part of a continuum of applications of small cell

technology (Source: [21]) ............................................................... 7
Figure 2-5
Typical femtocell deployment scenario .............................................. 7
Figure 2-6
Wi-Fi usage frequency positively correlates with femtocells appeal ........ 9
Figure 3-1
Example customer lifetime value (CLV) waterfall chart ...................... 11
Figure 3-2
A representative example of a femtocell business case. Details in [4] .. 12
Figure 3-3
Reduction in cost of carrying additional mobile data over femtocells

compared with macrocells [4] ........................................................ 12
Figure 4-1
Challenging interference scenarios for femtocell deployment .............. 15
Figure 5-1
Small Cell Forum Reference Architecture ......................................... 18

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Figure 5-2
Small Cell Forum Operator Requirements for 3G Femtocell

Architectures ............................................................................... 18
Figure 5-3
Overview of the timeline for 3GPP standards related to femtocells and

SCFs supporting activities ............................................................. 20
Figure 5-4
Mapping of 3GPP standards to the Small Cell Forum reference

architecture ................................................................................. 21
Figure 8-1
Price sensitivity of new femtocell services from [Error! Bookmark not

defined.] ..................................................................................... 29
Figure 9-1
Small Cell Forum membership represents a fully featured industry

ecosystem................................................................................... 30
Figure 9-2
Growth of commercial femtocell deployments and commitments

Source: [Error! Bookmark not defined.] .......................................... 31
Figure 9-3
Global small cell deployment forecasts by category 2011-16 Source:

Informa Telecoms & Media [Error! Bookmark not defined.] ................ 32

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1. Introduction and Contents

1.1
Motivation for this overview
For a mobile operator considering the deployment of 3G femtocells in residential and small office
environments, this document and the associated supporting materials provide everything you need to
know to move ahead with your deployment and subsequent evolution in a cost-effective, low-risk, high
benefit way.
Since 98% of operators already agree that small cells are essential for the future of their networks [20],
there is a compelling need to combine all their requirements with the learnings of vendors, to ensure
standards and deployment guidance are aligned with best practice and operational requirements and
economic objectives. This is the role of the Forum and this Release represents the first of an ongoing series
of releases to cover all aspects of small cells and adjacent complementary technologies.
Specifically, this document is part of and a guide to SCF Release One: Home the first definitive output
from SCFs release programme. The aims and motivations of the release programme as a whole are
described in [1] and additionally covers metropolitan, enterprise, home and rural use cases for small cells.
The focus of this release is:
Femtocells intended for home or small office applications. These applications are
typically indoors and involve locations where a single femtocell is usually sufficient. Both
3GPP and 3GPP2 femtocells are in scope.
Now that femtocells are well established and widely deployed, Small Cell Forum is able to compile a
complete package of documents addressing the full range of technical and economic issues that maybe
faced by operators and vendors planning for a wide scale commercial deployment. As a mobile operator
considering the deployment of 3G femtocells in residential and small office environments, or as a vendor
seeking to ensure your femtocell offering complies with the latest thinking and operator needs, this Release
will enable you to:
1.2
Consider how femtocells can best benefit your customers while serving your own business and
technical interests
Identify the key standards and technical configurations which todays femtocells should adhere
to, enabling you to ensure that your vendors are fully compliant
Specify your requirements in clear and explicit terms in a way which ensures a high degree of
commonality between your deployment and those of the leading femtocell operators, while still
leaving you with extensive opportunities for customising and differentiating your femtocells
offering
Configure femtocells to make best use of your precious radio spectrum to maximise coverage,
capacity and user experience
Deploy femtocells and Wi-Fi in a complementary, mutually beneficial fashion
Incorporate the best practices derived from the experiences of the leading femtocell operators
Include standard specifications for femtocell access points and network elements in your
procurement process, benefiting from a high degree of commonality with standard products,
reducing the time and cost of customisation and compliance testing.
Ensure your 3G femtocell deployment is ready for the future of femtocells enhanced-value added
services and evolution towards LTE and fully integrated femtocell/Wi-Fi solutions.
Contents
We have divided our body of work into a set of chapters, which cover each of the different aspects that need
to be considered. This overview document is organised around these chapters, and captures the key
messages from a wider body of supporting documents as follows:
Chapters:
2- Market drivers Why Femtocells?: Explains the customer and operator needs which motivate
femtocells. It also explains how femtocells can be used alongside Wi-Fi and other solutions to create a
full-featured armoury of mobile broadband solutions.
3 - Business Case: Highlights the main variables and options in constructing a femtocell business
case, including some successful case studies, the large reductions in data costs from offloading to
femtocells and the business case modelling capability which SCF has created for its members
4 Radio spectrum and interference management: Highlights the best-practice techniques which
the SCF has identified and how these can be used to ensure femtocells deliver coverage, capacity and
user experience benefits even when deployed in the most challenges radio environments

Version: 101.01.01
1.3
5 Architecture and standards: Explains the operator requirements and consensus building which
the SCF used to ensure its partners in 3GPP, 3GPP2 and Broadband Forum were able to create timely
and efficient standards for femtocells
6 Interoperability: While standards are essential to create a healthy technology ecosystem, further
steps need to be taken to ensure full open interoperability. The role of ongoing plugfests in ensuring
adherence to the standards is explained and the steps towards the first small cell Profile is introduced
to allow consistent specification and compliance with the most common femtocells requirements.
7 Regulatory issues: Regulators can benefit in their societal and economic goals by the deployment
of femtocells, but in order to do maximise these benefits some key issues need to be considered and
clarified. These are explained, along with details of the progress made in femtocell regulation
internationally.
8 Value-added services: The consumer demand and operator opportunity to use femtocells as a
platform for enhanced and new services is explained, highlighting the opportunity for further
improvements in the business case and the steps taken to encourage a rich developer ecosystem for
femtocell-based applications.
9 Market progress: Surveys how the best practice, standards and motivations explained in the
preceding chapters have translated into mass-scale femtocells deployments and the prospects for
further future growth.
10 Conclusions: Summarises the state of play for femtocells and points towards future
developments.
Supporting documents
While this document provides a self-contained overview of the key message of the entire Release, the
following documents provide a deep and rich body of definitive supporting material related to SCF Release
One Home, organised by chapter headings:
Document
number
SCF
01.100.01
SCF
01.101.01
Title (with link to online source of document)

Brief Description
SCF Release Structure and Roadmap
Reference in
this document
Small Cell Home: Overview of SCF Release One (this

document)
Market Drivers
SCF
01.026.02
Global Consumer Survey of In-Home Mobile Services and

Femtocells - Parks Associates
Parks Associates study of global consumer attitudes toward
femtocells and femtocell benefits for users of mobile
services
SCF
01.016.02
Femtocells - Natural Solution for Offload

While operators have historically been innovative and
successful in expanding network capacity, the current rate
of growth in demand is unprecedented. As described in this
paper, femtocells offer a highly effective and cost-effective
method of easing the traffic carried by the macro-cellular
network.
SCF
01.007.02
Wireless in the Home & Office: the need for both 3G

femtocells and Wi-Fi access points
Emphasizes the role that femtocells will play alongside Wi-Fi
in providing the best possible mobile data experience to
consumers.
Femtocell Business Case - Signals Research

Highlights the economics of femtocells under a wide range
of scenarios and assumptions on a global basis
The Business Case for Femtocells in the Mobile Broadband
Era - Signals Research
Analyzes the economic benefits of femtocells in an
operators next-generation product suite
Business Case
SCF
01.005.02
SCF
01.013.02
Spectrum and Interference Management

Version: 101.01.01
Document
number

Brief Description
Reference in
this document
SCF
01.003.02
Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells ("High-band")

A comprehensive cross-industry study, analysing
interference risks from femtocell deployments,
recommending mitigation techniques and any necessary
associated RF parameters and performance requirements to
ensure minimal disruption to the macro network or other
femtocells. In higher frequency bands such as 1900 and
2100 MHz.
Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells ("Low-band")
Additional detailed study of femtocells interference
management, extending the analysis of SCF 01.003.02 to
lower frequency bands such as 850 or 900 MHz
SCF
01.008.02
Topic brief: Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells

An accessible summary of the findings of the detailed
interference analysis with updates concerning standards and
real world experiences.
10
SCF 01.036.2
Topic brief: Femtocell synchronisation and location

Addresses the common technological and economic
challenges in achieving synchronisation and location
determination for Femto and Small Cells. It is provided as a
briefing for network operators, to encourage debate
amongst Femto and Small Cell vendors as far as necessary
to ensure that industry requirements can be met and to
alert vendors to the specific needs and opportunities offered
by the market.
11
SCF
01.009.02
Architecture and Standards

SCF
01.044.01
3G femtocell standards overview

A summary and guide to the 3G femtocell standards of
3GPP, 3GPP2 and the Broadband Forum, explaining the
underlying requirements and the reasons for the main
decisions taken in the standards bodies and SCF to ensure
the standards met operator needs.
12
SCF
01.041.01
Femtocell Systems Overview for cdma2000 Wireless

Communication Systems 3GPP2
A deployment guide for CDMA femtocells produced by
3GPP2 with the support and collaboration of SCF.
13
SCF
01.048.01
3G Small Cell Layer 1 API: Message Flow Definition

Provides a layer 1 API for 3G small cells as part of Small Cell
Forums Small Cell Forums SCAPI (Small Cell Application
Platform Interface ) initiative to encourage competition and
innovation within the small cell industry between suppliers
of platform hardware, platform software and application
software by providing a common API around which suppliers
of each component can compete.
14
Regulatory Aspects of Femtocells

Aimed at regulators who wish to understand the benefits
and potential regulatory issues associated with femtocells.
Femtocells and Health
Produced in collaboration between SCF, GSMA and MMA to
answer consumer questions about femtocells regarding the
safe use of radio waves and wireless communications
15
Regulation
SCF
01.002.03
SCF
01.001.02

Version: 101.01.01
16
Document
number

Brief Description
equipment. The wireless industry takes these concerns
seriously and welcomes ongoing research. The consensus of
international health authorities today is that there are no
established health effects from low power wireless
communications devices such as femtocells.
Reference in
this document
Value-Added Services
SCF
01.046.01
Small Cell Services

A guide to the opportunities presented by small cell-enabled
value added services and the developer ecosystem and
associated technical API standards which SCF has created.
17
SCF
01.040.02
FemtoZone Services (Release One) RESTful Bindings

Technical definition of femtocell services API
18
Market Progress
SCF
01.043.01
Table 1-1
Small cell market status Q4 2012 Informa

Market status report, produced independently by Informa,
providing latest developments, deployments and forecasts
for femtocells and the full range of small cells.
19
Full set of documents under SCF Release One Home

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2. Market drivers Why Femtocells?

This section covers the trends in the needs of consumers and operators which are driving increased interest
in femtocells. It also explains how femtocells fit relative to other potential technologies to address these
needs.
2.1
Coverage
Coverage is a critical hygiene factor for all mobile users: without reliable coverage, exotic service offerings
are irrelevant. For every operator, reliable coverage delivered to all the locations which matter to their
customers is a key enabling factor to promote satisfaction. Mobile usage in the past was dominated by users
on the move in cars and trains and networks were designed accordingly. Today, however, an increasing
proportion of mobile usage is indoors, especially at home and in the users place of work see Figure 2-1.
Figure 2-1
An increasing proportion of mobile usage is indoors [source: Informa]
However, even the best mobile networks cannot provide coverage everywhere with macrocells, especially
indoors. The construction materials of modern buildings increasingly attenuate radio signals as they aim to
provide improved thermal insulation. Users in deep basements or on the top floors of very high buildings
cannot be served reliably from the outdoor mobile network either. In very rural areas with a low density of
housing or in areas of outstanding natural beauty, provision of conventional base stations may be
impossible or at least highly uneconomic. Yet every mobile user deserves and increasingly expects and
relies upon - good mobile coverage.
Given that every operator faces these challenges, recognising these issues and providing customers with
access to the best solutions is the hallmark of an excellent mobile operator. Furthermore, poor coverage is
frequently cited as the number one network-related source of customer churn from operators, while good
coverage can act as a powerful attractant for a customer to join a new operator.
To understand the scale of these issues, Small Cell Forum commissioned leading consumer research firm
Parks Associates to conduct a six-nation, 6000 customer survey [3]. At least 10% of households surveyed
reported having mobile voice quality issues 1 to 3 times a week in the UK, Germany and Spain, while
Chinese respondents experience poor voice quality at twice the rate of their peers in other countries. Data
problems were higher still, impacting on slow internet speeds and trouble connecting to mobile email. These
difficulties were found to correlate closely with the customers propensity to churn see Figure 2-2.

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Figure 2-2
In-home mobile voice call problems impact customer churn Source: Parks Associates
Any method of ensuring that mobile coverage is reliable in the places users care about can therefore deliver
benefits both to the customer, who can rely on their mobile device to be in contact when it matters most,
and to the operator by ensuring happy, loyal customers. Such reliable coverage can also act as a platform
for additional mobile services including fixed-mobile convergence, differentiated tariff plans and value-added
services.
2.2
Capacity & Quality of Experience
Todays consumer demand is for more than just coverage. Customers are increasingly consuming large
volumes of data and expect this to be available reliably and at high data rates.
Mobile networks in many countries have shifted from being predominantly voice networks to become
primarily data. UK operator Hutchison 3G reported in November 2011 that over 97% of its traffic was data.
There are over 100 networks now offering 21Mbit/s and a further 50 delivering up to 42Mbit/s over 3G, with
many operators launching 4G/LTE service every month. Consumer demand for data services is growing
unabated, with penetration of smartphones exceeding 40% in many countries and over 300 million being
shipped annually. A large ecosystem of application vendors has emerged, reliant on always on, high
speed, low-latency wireless connectivity. Supporting these applications, the volume of data is continuing to
grow rapidly: Cisco predicts that the volume of wireless data will exceed that of wired data by 2015.
These large volumes of data create a challenge for mobile operators in delivering ever increasing volumes
and rates of data economically. They have several potential sources of extra capacity, including upgrading
existing sites to support more spectrum and technologies with higher spectral efficiency such as enhanced
3G and 4G. However these sources are limited in their scope, and there is general agreement that the most
important single source of future capacity will be more cells, which are necessarily smaller. Indeed, 98% of
operators surveyed in December 2012 say that small cells are essential for the future of mobile networks
[20]. Such smaller cells, while supporting higher data rates and an improved user experience, have to be
delivered efficiently, cost effectively and using available backhaul techniques. These factors are discussed in
further detail in [21].
2.3
Economics
While smaller cells can act as a source of substantial additional capacity, targeted to areas where it is most
needed, the number of users per cell also reduces, creating challenges in ensuring that the added capacity
is available sufficiently cost-effectively to be affordable. If this can be achieved, then operators have an
opportunity to use small cells as an active means of data offload, where it is more cost effective to shift
traffic to the small cell layer than to continue to occupy precious macrocell resources. The opportunity to
use femtocells as a natural source of mobile data offload is highlighted in [4].

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2.4
Femtocells: Meeting the Market Needs
Femtocells create an opportunity to address this range of consumer and operator needs, delivering services
reliably and cost-effectively. But what exactly is a femtocell?
While there is no formal definition, the Small Cell Forum views femtocells as one of a continuum of small cell
types which includes femtocells, picocells, microcells and metrocells intended for home, enterprise urban
and rural applications, as illustrated in Figure 2-3.
Figure 2-3
Femtocells are part of a continuum of applications of small cell technology

(Source: [21])
Femtocells are low-power access points, providing wireless voice and broadband services to customers. A
typical deployment scenario is shown in Figure 2-4.
Figure 2-4
Typical femtocell deployment scenario
Femtocells have a number of key attributes which distinguish them from other technologies:
Using mobile technology: Femtocells use fully standardised wireless protocols over the air to
communicate with standard mobile devices, including mobile phones and a wide range of other
mobile-enabled devices. Qualifying standard protocols include GSM, W-CDMA, LTE, Mobile
WiMAX, CDMA and other current and future protocols standardised by 3GPP, 3GPP2 and the
IEEE, which collectively comprise the technologies included in the ITU-R definition of IMT. The
use of such protocols allows femtocells to provide services to several billion existing mobile
devices worldwide and to provide services which users can access from almost any location as
part of a wide-area network.

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Operating in licensed spectrum: By operating in licensed spectrum licensed to the service

provider, femtocells allow operators to provide assured quality of service to customers over the
air, free from harmful interference but making efficient use of their spectrum.
Generating coverage and capacity: As well as improving indoor coverage, femtocells also
create extra network capacity, serving a greater number of users with high data-rate services.
They differ in this from simple repeaters or boosters which may only enhance the coverage.
Over Internet-grade backhaul: Femtocells backhaul their data over internet-grade broadband
connections, including DSL and cable, using standard internet protocols. This may be over a
specific Internet-service providers network, over the Internet itself or over a dedicated link.
Cost Effective: The large volumes envisaged for femtocells will allow substantial economies of
scale, driving efficiencies in manufacturing and distribution in a manner similar to the consumer
electronics industry and likely with costs comparable with access points for other wireless
technologies.
Self-organising and self-managing: Femtocells can be installed by the end customer. They
set themselves up to operate with high performance according to the local and network-wide
conditions regarding radio, regulatory and operator policies, with no need for intervention by the
customer or operator. They continue to adjust themselves over time as the customer, operator
and regulator needs evolve to maximise performance and reliability.
Control maintained by licensed operators: Femtocells only operate within parameters set by
the licensed operator. While they have a high degree of intelligence to automatically ensure that
they operate at power levels and frequencies which are unlikely to create interference, the limits
on these parameters are always set by operators, not the end user. The operator is always able
to create or deny service to individual femtocells or users. This control is maintained whether the
femtocell itself is owned by the operator or the end user.
Amongst small cells, femtocells occupy a special role for two particular reasons:
They were the first instance of small cells with specialised, open interfaces, creating a broad
industry ecosystem
They create the technological opportunity to power the wider range of small cells via the
standards, interfaces, algorithms, chipsets and know-how which is scalable to mass-market
volumes with an opportunity for major economies of scale.
Femtocells are widely expected to be by far the most numerous single type of small cells, so even operators
and vendors who are more focused on other small cell types have a keen interest in ensuring the success of
the femtocells ecosystem.
While there is no specific limit to the application areas for femtocells, they are particularly well suited to
deployments in homes, SoHo (small office/home office) and small/medium business premises.
2.5
Femtocells in relation to other solutions
Small cells and femtocells in particular are not the only means of improving service inside buildings.
Alternatives include repeaters, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and Wi-Fi and any of these alternatives
can be complementary to femtocells in particular situations. In other situations small cells are beginning to
displace solutions such as repeaters and DAS.
There is a particular opportunity for femtocells and Wi-Fi to work well alongside each other and they should
not be seen in modern networks as competitive technologies. When deployed together with appropriate
management, there is the opportunity to create Integrated Small Cell/Wi-Fi Networks. Such networks offer
a range of advantages including:
Leveraging the increasing range of support in mobile devices for various combinations of 3G, 4G
and Wi-Fi
Operator-managed services with enhanced Quality of Service and differentiated capabilities over
multiple simultaneous radio bearers
Seamless service continuity with the macro network
Ease of configuration and use
Higher levels of security
Better device battery life
Use of the full range of radio spectrum both licensed and unlicensed - available in a given
location
Wide installed base of Wi-Fi access points with rapidly increasing support from mobile operators
via various carrier Wi-Fi initiatives.

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Overall such potential benefits can go beyond pure data offload and into a world of intelligent, fine-grained
traffic management for all devices over the entire radio spectrum with support for significantly enhanced
user experience.
Small Cell Forum has been in the vanguard of highlighting and making good on these opportunities for both
technologies to act together in synergy, both within the access point and deep within the network. The
benefits of Integrated Small Cell / Wi-Fi Networks have been set out by Small Cell Forum in [5] and [22].
They have been confirmed by Small Cell Forums cooperation with the Wireless Broadband Alliance [23] and
both organisations as well as standards bodies such as 3GPP are collaborating to make good on these
opportunities.
2.6
Consumer needs
So do femtocells actually meet a need amongst consumers? The consumer femtocell survey [3] explained
the benefits of femtocells and asked consumers to rate the appeal of femtocells. On average, 59% of global
consumers find the femtocells benefits appealing. Further, consumers with mobile data plans and 3G
smartphones were disproportionately drawn to the benefits of femtocells. Of those using Wi-Fi at least
weekly on their smart phones the appeal was even higher, with 84% finding femtocells appealing,
indicating a significant opportunity for Wi-Fi and femtocells to complement each other. This finding was
explained by the benefits of femtocells in extending battery life and supporting excellent coverage for both
voice and data.
Figure 2-5
Wi-Fi usage frequency positively correlates with femtocells appeal
The survey also reveals that in competitive global mobile markets, femtocells would help mobile operators
retain valuable customers, attract new ones, or potentially persuade families with multiple operators
accounts to consolidate service plans. For instance, among global consumers who indicated a strong
likelihood of changing operators within the next twelve months, 42% expressed strong willingness to stay
with their current provider if it offered them a femtocell.
2.7
Initial barriers that have been overcome
The Small Cell Forum works systematically to address and remove barriers to commercial deployment of all
small cell technologies. For femtocells, the barriers identified and now addressed were:
Business case
Interference
Ecosystem
Standards
Regulatory
These aspects are described in detail in the following sections.

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3. Business Case
Any technological development has to consider not only the technological feasibility, but also the
opportunity for a positive business case which will support the sustainable deployment of the technology for
as wide a range of customers as possible. However the elements of a business case can vary significantly
amongst operators and by market, so there is no single business case, but rather a range of options to be
investigated according to circumstances.
To support this need, detailed studies of business case issues across a range of cases were conducted by
the Forum, and the Forum commissioned Signals Research Group to investigate these issues and produce a
model which would allow its members to investigate options and parameters of relevance to their own
situation.
3.1
Key elements of business case
Any business case is impacted by three broad areas:

1.
2.
3.
The costs of establishing and running a service, whether capital (capex) or operational (opex)
The drivers of revenue, either directly from charging for a service or indirectly via increased
loyalty which extends the period over which revenue is available from a given customers
The timing of the flow of money into and out of the business.
In the case of femtocells, the drivers of each of these areas may include:
Cost drivers:
Cost of the femtocells access point itself

Costs in the core network associated with gateways and other network elements
Integration costs, including particularly IT upgrades to OSS and BSS systems
Cost savings from offloading the macrocell network
Costs of marketing the service
Costs of training support staff
Revenue drivers:
Potential to retain customers for longer (reduced churn)

Potential to add family members to a given tariff plan
Revenue from increased voice and data usage , both outgoing and incoming, arising from better
availability and quality of calls and data
Charging for the femtocell itself
Value-added services enabled by the femtocell
Timing issues:
3.2
The period after which the femtocells requires replacement for technical or feature reasons
The contract duration for the customer
The cost of capital for the operator, which tends to reduce the value of revenues and costs in the
distant future
Modelling the femtocell business case
In order to balance all these aspects together and to account for the fact that the business case for
femtocells may be very different for different customer segments, a customer lifetime value (CLV)
methodology was applied. This approach looks at the future net cash flows associated with a customer
relationship and calculates the present value by discounting future value according to the relevant cost of
capital. In the end, a single number for the CLV with and without femtocells can be can be used to compare
the customer value before and after: provided the CLV with the femtocells service is significantly greater
than that without, the use of femtocells should be a rational step for an operator to take. The details are
given in [6] but an illustration is shown in the example waterfall chart in Figure 3-1. Each green or red bar
represents the present value of the expected future cash flow to an operator for that particular femtocell
service. Some bars are red, such as the femtocell cost bar (value destruction) and many bars are green
(value creation). To a large extent the value creation/destruction associated with each bar is independent of
the other bars. However, as illustrated in the waterfall chart, there is a cumulative effect with the starting
point of each bar dependent on the end point of the preceding bar (the bar to its left).

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Figure 3-1
Example customer lifetime value (CLV) waterfall chart Source: Signals Research
Group
Signal Research Group produced a detailed spreadsheet model to automate the calculation of CLV which has
a wide range of features and is available to full members of Small Cell Forum.
3.3
Business case outcomes
Results for a variety of example scenarios are presented in [6] and [7]. Generally the business case for
carefully targeted customer segments is very positive. Particular findings include:
There is no single strategy for making a successful femtocell business case. Instead, the
business case is highly dependent on the attributes of the targeted customer segment, which can
vary considerably, and the femtocell features that the operator wishes to make available. In
some instances the payback on the incremental investment can require as many as 40 months
while in other instances the breakeven point is only 1 or 2 months. Likewise, the operator has a
high degree of flexibility in how much it charges for the femtocell and for the services that it
offers.
A North American family of two can purchase a subsidized femtocell for $50 and take advantage
of an unlimited calling plan for $15 per month, plus a $5 monthly fee to provide improved
coverage while the operator can break even for that customer in 15 months and achieve a return
on investment (ROI) on its femtocell investment of 443%
In Europe, consumers are less likely to pay for improved coverage, but they will pay for an
unlimited calling plan that uses the femtocell. After taking into consideration other assumed
differences between the two regions, the European operator requires 22 months to breakeven
but realizes a 538% ROI.
Femtocells can be used to provide deep in-building broadband wireless services far more
economically than a macro cellular network. In one representative sidebar analysis, we
demonstrate that a targeted femtocell strategy can be used to complement a lightly deployed
3G network and deliver a true in-home broadband wireless experience with 2.5Mbps data rates
for less than half the incremental coverage-related expenditure that would be required at 2100
MHz if the same experience were delivered by the macro network. There can also be
considerable savings associated with offloading traffic onto the femtocell, in particular for heavy
data users. Based on our analysis, the cost savings associated with offloading at least 1.4 GB of
HSPA data per month onto the femtocell from a coverage-constrained macrocellular network
would justify a free femtocell being dropped into the home.
The business case for femtocells does not depend on any one critical factor or assumption in
order to generate a favorable outcome. For example, increasing the wholesale cost of the
femtocell by 50% (from $200 to $300) reduces the difference between the starting family
lifetime value and the basic value proposition family lifetime value by a mere 16.3%. Also, the
business case is not contingent upon a reduction in churn even though it is a likely outcome of a
femtocell deployment and has already been proven in other similar FMC product deployments.

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In one representative example of a Tech Savvy Family, the household lifetime value (CLV) increases from
918 without femtocells to 2,646 with a femtocells offer. The additional provision of an enhanced service
offering further increases the CLV to 3,515, i.e. an increase of over 380% over the starting value.
Figure 3-2
A representative example of a femtocell business case. Details in [4]
Perhaps a simpler way to view the femtocells business case is to examine the difference in cost of carrying
additional mobile data traffic over femtocells compared with the macrocell network. The numbers depend on
many factors, but the analysis described in [4] shows a reduction in cost per GB by at least a factor of 4 in
the case of femtocells which carry all data via the mobile core, and a potential further substantial reduction
in the case of femtocells implementing local traffic offload, as shown in Figure 3-3.
Figure 3-3
Reduction in cost of carrying additional mobile data over femtocells compared

with macrocells [4]

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3.4
Femtocell economics in the real world
Since the Forums work on the femtocell business case was conducted, real-world large-scale deployments
of femtocells have been conducted and have caused several factors to evolve:
Femtocell access point costs have been reducing over time as volumes and standardisation have
progressed, producing important economies of scale which are crucial to small cell economics
Data volumes per user have increased, further improving the savings available from data offload
Leading operators have found that the reduction in churn is better than expected and customers
with femtocells are extremely satisfied with the service they obtain
So while the work of the Forum indicated a positive business case, in reality the business case has become
even better over time.

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4. Radio spectrum and interference management

4.1
Interference management: the central magic of cellular

networks
Careful management of the precious radio spectrum resource is crucial for operators. They need to ensure
that the spectrum is increasingly densely reused to accommodate the increasing data volumes from modern
mobile devices, while avoiding harmful interference which could degrade the user experience.
The management of interference is the central magic of cellular mobile technology, enabling essentially
unlimited capacity from finite quantities of spectrum. Interference is traditionally managed using detailed
radio planning tools, extensive ongoing field measurements and skilled radio planners and optimisers.
However this traditional approach is not viable for femtocells, where the location of cells is variable and the
numbers may far exceed the numbers of macrocells. Nevertheless, the radio planners need to remain in
ultimate control of femtocells to ensure that they do not degrade the wider network and that they are only
providing a service where it actually enhances the experience for users both those on the femtocells and
those on the surrounding network.
Unlike current 2G and 3G macrocells, femtocells can manage their spectrum without the need for manual
intervention. In fact, the smarts in small cells are able to manage spectrum and interference that the armies
of radio planners need to do manually. The small cell doesnt need drive testing. It performs its own tests
and has enough intelligence to dynamically adjust its own parameters. And it does this regularly as the
demand changes on a daily and hourly basis. The small cell sees the small cell next door and the macrocells
in the vicinity and adjusts its own power output accordingly. This is a key part of the self-organizing network
(SON) concept.
4.2
Examining challenging interference scenarios
The particular interference management scenario depends on the configuration of the femtocells. In some
cases, operators deploy femtocells on dedicated spectrum channels, avoiding any direct interference with
the macrocells, but necessitating well-controlled handovers between the networks. In other cases, the
scarcity of spectrum is such that it is necessary for the femtocells to share spectrum with macrocells,
putting considerable onus on the interference management capabilities of the femtocells. This is especially
challenging when femtocells are operated in closed mode, where access is restricted to a white list of
users, creating the possibility that macrocell users could be interfered with by a nearby femtocells which
they cant access.
To address these challenges, interference management for 3G femtocells has been extensively studied by
Small Cell Forum as well as in bodies such as 3GPP. An accessible guide to these studies is available in [10]
together with detailed studies in [8] and [9] Small Cell Forum examined some of the most challenging
corner cases where femtocells are deployed cochannel and in closed mode. We looked particularly at three
scenarios for interference:
A macro-connected handset that is in close proximity to a small cell that it is not registered to
use, causing a potential deadzone.
A small cell-connected handset that is at the furthest range of the small cell
A small cell-connected handset that is closer to a small cell in the house next door, but is not
registered to use it.

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These interference scenarios are illustrated in Figure 4-1:
Figure 4-1
4.3
Challenging interference scenarios for femtocell deployment
Outcomes: interference is manageable, yielding huge capacity

and user experience gains
Our analysis of these cases showed that several techniques are essential to avoid harmful interference in
these cases:
1.
2.
3.
Dead zones can arise because there is too much small cell power in relation to macrocell power.
If the small cell was aware of that the neighbouring macrocell had a weak signal, the small cell
would scale back its own power. This is one of our basic recommendations to vendors. Some
vendors have their own secret sauce that pushes this power management even further.
If a small cell-connected device is very powerful and drowning out a macrocell in close proximity,
we recommend that the small cell has the ability to tell the handset what the maximum power it
can transmit at so as not to impact the neighbouring macro and to adjust its own sensitivity to
avoid its own receiver being deafened by the strong signal.
If a macrocell is interfering with a small cell, unfortunately you cant really tamper with the
macrocell output. It has been manually configured to give a certain coverage level and you dont
want to change that every time a new femtocell is turned on. But the small cell can adjust its
power to give the optimum balance between good coverage over its designated area and
interference beyond its reach.
Overall, if these techniques are applied carefully, it turns out that managing interference between femtocells
and macrocells is not negative: it is in fact a good thing for both capacity and for user experience. Consider
the opposite scenario where there are no femtocells at all. The average 3G throughput in a metropolitan
district is just 50kbps. Interference impacts so much that there is less than 1Mbps of shared capacity in the
entire macrocell.
If you introduce femtocells into this area, macrocell performance improves substantially. Average user
throughput jumps to 8 Mbps each, while the shared capacity increases to 88 Mbps 100 times greater than
when there are no femtocells.
Performance Metric
Macro-only
Femto + macro
Benefit
Network Load
11.3 UEs per Macrocell
(34 UEs across 3 Macrocells)
Average User Tput
0.08 Mbps
7.87 Mbps
98 x
Total average cell Tput

(network capacity)
0.9 Mbps
88.9 Mbps
99 x
Table 4-1
The small cell & macrocell network has an air-interface capacity limit nearly 100x
that of the macro alone

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Note that it is not just the small cell-connected users who gain a better mobile internet experience, so do
the macrocell users. With less noisy devices competing for attention, interference is substantially reduced.
The macrocell is no longer clogged up by the difficult-to-service indoor users.
So in summary, to get 100x throughput compared to macro-only networks, the following techniques may be
applied:
Adaptive Pilot Power Control
Extended Tests for Dynamic Range
Uplink power capping
Dynamic receiver gain management
Our studies were based on simulations, although the parameters and assumptions were based on the realworld experiences of our operator and vendor members. However, since then, the techniques involved have
been applied in millions of real-world femtocells and found to be effective in practice. To quote one major
operator:
We have deployed femtocells co-carrier with both the hopping channels for GSM macrocells and
with UMTS macrocells. Interference isnt a problem. We have tested femtocells extensively in real
customer deployments of many thousands of femtocells, and we find that the mitigation techniques
implemented successfully minimise and avoid interference. The more femtocells you deploy, the
more uplink interference is reduced
-
Gordon Mansfield, Executive Director of RAN Delivery, AT&T
These techniques are also fully supported by appropriate hooks in the relevant standards from both 3GPP
[24] and 3GPP2 [25], enabling the techniques to be fully implemented while still enabling differentiation
and further performance enhancements.
Further explanation of the extensive studies in this important but challenging area is provided in [10], and
the full details of the underlying technical analysis are provided in [8] for frequency bands above 1 GHz and
[9] for bands below 1GHz.

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5. Architecture and standards

5.1
The role of standards
Small Cell Forum members are committed to a principle of open interoperability to enable a wide range of
choice and opportunity for operators and vendors alike. One of the key enabling factors for this open
interoperability is the development of timely appropriate standards. Such standards have several roles to
play:
They must be technically appropriate to support high-quality services in the relevant operating
environment for small cells. In the case of residential femtocells, for example, they must deliver
an impressive quality of experience over bandwidth-constrained home broadband connections
and with a high level of security despite delivery over the open internet and installation by end
users.
They must standardise where appropriate to enable interoperability, but they must leave open
possibilities to innovate and as the industry matures and to enable differentiated products to
encourage competition.
They must be adopted by the industry in their mainstream products, ensuring that the standards
have an impact and lead to economies of scale.
It was apparent at an early stage that existing standards were not sufficient to enable efficient residential
femtocells, so new standards were needed. The Small Cell Forum is not a standards body in itself, so its role
is to work with relevant partners to:
Identify market needs

Drive voluntary consensus where required to speed up the standards-setting process
Encourage adoption of standards once published.
In order to encourage the standardisation of residential femtocells, Small Cell Forum established Market
Representation Partnerships with both 3GPP and 3GPP2 and set up a cooperation agreement with
Broadband Forum.
5.2
Candidates and choices
An early requirement of new femtocells standards was to adopt an architecture appropriate to the needs. In
early 2008 the Forum gathered and compared options favoured by its members and discovered an
embarrassment of riches some 15 architectures and associated variants. While having such a wide range
of options was encouraging in terms of having choice, it was also clear that there was a need to rapidly
drive consensus if the industry was to make progress.
A generic reference architecture was created in order to compare the various solutions, illustrated in Figure
5-1. This identifies generic interfaces between the mobile device, the femtocell access point (FAP), the
Femto Gateway (FGW), the core network and the Femto Management System.

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17
Femto Management System

FAP-MS
Fm
Radio
i/f
Femtocell
Access Point
FL
(FAP)
Fa
FGW-MS
Fg
Fr
Femto
Gateway
(FGW)
Fs
Fb-cs
Broadband
IP link
Home
GW
Fb-ps
Security
Gateway
(SeGW)
Fb-ims
HPLMN Core
Network
Subscriber
databases
CS core
PS core
IMS core
Fas
Femto AS
HPLMN RAN
Figure 5-1
Small Cell Forum Reference Architecture
Having codified the various architectures in this way and compared their attributes, it was apparent that
each had its own merits and no one clear favourite was emerging. This created a significant risk, especially
within the 3GPP domain: operators had indicated that the architecture needed to be standardised in 3GPPs
then-current release 8, but the release was progressing and had a heavy workload given that it was the first
release of LTE.
5.3
Operator requirements
To assist in rapid and appropriate selection of a 3GPP 3G femtocell architecture, a group of leading
operators in Small Cell Forum gathered together in early 2008 and set out their high-level requirements to
as illustrated in Figure 5-2. Key amongst these was the need to have fewer choices and preferably just
one. It was also a central principle that a best-of-breed architecture should be adopted which combined the
best attributes of the available proposals rather than compromising on any issues.
There shall be a single definition of the Fa interface supporting all

radio technologies.
The Protocol shall adopt best of breed and most efficient solutions
Figure 5-2
Common access control, security solution, to convey

location information etc
Fb Interfaces to core network shall be based upon existing

standardised interface e.g.
3G is Iu-CS and Iu-PS, IP and ATM transport
CDMA is IOS A1 & A2, IP transport
FAP to network controller/gateway enables any FAP to work with

any core network controller/gateway within a given technology
If the technology has RNC functionality the majority of the RNC

functionality shall be in the FAP to optimise the signalling between
the FAP and the gateway
Small Cell Forum Operator Requirements for 3G Femtocell Architectures

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5.4
Wider operator needs
Small Cell Forum members considered these issues and also a number of more general considerations,
including:
The impact of controlling larger volumes of femtocells on an operators existing network

The security of the public Internet backhaul connection to femtocells
The need for femtocell products to support a flatter network architecture with RNC capability
incorporated in the femtocell subsystem of the network
The need for common elements and interfaces within the femtocell network sub-system so that
operators did not become tied in to a single vendors approach or solution
The need for femtocell specific operation and maintenance which included a requirement for
location awareness
Following all of these considerations, in May 2008, the Forum announced that a consensus had been
reached, including the following principles [26]:
There shall be a single definition of the Fa interface with specific modules defined for each radio
technology to comply with existing standards.
Building on available technology and recognized industry standards the architecture will deliver
the best combination of features.
A "collapsed" architecture will be adopted where the NodeB/BTS and RNC/BSC functionality will
be placed in the Femto Access Point (FAP) to optimize signaling and performance over the
broadband connection.
Interfaces from the Gateway to the core network shall use existing standards.
However, the Forum is not a standards setting body and so the next step for the Forum was to work
alongside the main standards bodies, as they had indeed already been doing, to translate the concepts of
the Forums reference architecture into technology specific standards with detailed interface definitions that
would allow interoperability and the industry to move forwards.
5.5
3GPP standards for 3G (WCDMA) femtocells
An overview of all standards, including 3GPP, related to 3G femtocells for home and small office
environments is given in the Guide to 3G Femtocell standards For homes and small offices [12].
The initial 3GPP study item into femtocells began in 2007 with a report (TR 25.820) assessing the areas
where changes might be required in existing 3GPP standards documents and where new standards
documents might be required to include femtocells being completed in April 2008. There then followed
throughout 2008 a huge collaborative effort between 3GPP, Broadband Forum and Small Cell Forum to
articulate the recommendations for this report and the concepts of the Forums own reference architecture
into a series of approved 3GPP standards. April 2009 represented a major milestone in that 3GPP release 8
standards were approved which included:
Updates to existing base station RF requirements and testing standards, TS 24.104 and TS
25.141, in late 2008 to include a Home Base Station category of base station with revised
maximum transmit power levels, relaxed oscillator accuracy, reduced test cases for lower speeds
and fewer users, an increased receiver dynamic range and revised spectrum emission mask.
The definition of a HNB reference architecture in the Stage 2 specifications TS 25.467 completed
in December 2008 which included concepts from Small Cell Forum such as using a HNB-GW to
concentrate traffic from multiple femtocells.
The definition of Stage 3 specifications for a standard femtocell specific interface between the
HNB and HNB-GW called the Iuh in TS 25.468 and TS 25.469.
The definition of OAM messaging and data models specific to HNBs which drew upon existing
standards within the Broadband Forum and a newly developed femtocell specific model which the
Small Cell Forum and Broadband Forum developed together.
Figure 5-3 gives a timeline for the evolution of femtocell standards within 3GPP. Following the initial
inclusion of femtocells in release 8 there has continued to be progress in later 3GPP releases related to
femtocells as follows:
Release 9 included updates related to HNB mobility (including connected mode mobility under
CSG cells to build on the CSG concept introduced for idle mode UEs in release 8) and limited
recommendations on interference management for femtocells based largely on power control.
Newly introduced femtocell specific content in release 9 included work on the security
requirements of HNBs in TS 33.820,the introduction of the hybrid cell and the introduction of

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19
uplink Circuit-switched multiplexing to improve bandwidth efficiency for multiple calls where the
uplink is traditionally limited TS 25.444. Support for Cell Broadcast and Public Warning Systems
were also introduced in release 9.
Release 10 brought support for Local IP Access (LIPA) as a means for diverting some femtocell
traffic locally within the home where distribution over the core network is unnecessary and
enhancements to HNB mobility management which included the definition of the Iurh as a logical
direct interface between HNBs.
Release 11 has included work to expand TS 33.820 to include the security additions needed
when inter HNB and HNB to RNC connectivity is permitted and a further study item on enhanced
mobility for HNBs (including additions to CSG mobility in different UE modes and a mechanism
for hand-in of legacy UEs from macrocells to HNBs).
Release 12 only foresees RAN-level work on 3G HNB as being work on cell reselection involving
CSG cells whilst the UE is in CELL_FACH state. Further work is anticipated on mobility under cells
when LIPA or SIPTO (Selected IP Traffic Offload) is deployed in the Local Network and Broadband
Access Interworking where Broadband Provider and Mobile Service Provider may cooperate on
policy control and Quality of Service.
August 2007
1st internal
draft TR
25.820 HNB
feasibility
study
June 2008
1st draft RF
requirements
for Home BS
produced in
TR 25.967
April 2008
TR 25.820 HNB
feasibility
study report
completed in
release 8
2007
SCF capture
operator
femtocell
challenges
and concerns
Early 2008
SCF reference
architecture
11/02/2013
completed
Dec 2008
1st release of HNB
architecture in TS
25.467, Iuh in TS
25.468, HNBAP in
TS 25.469 and
HNB mobility in
TS 25.367 under
release 8
Sept 2008
Home BS class
included in RF
standards TS
24.104 and TS
25.141 in
release 8
SCF working with
3GPP and
Broadband Forum
closely throughout
2008
TS 32.584
definition of
OAM interface
from HNB to
HMS completed
under release 8
April 2009
RF requirements
for Home BS
study TR25.967
published in
release 8
TS 32.581, TS
32.582 and TS
32.583 OAM
definitions for
HNBs published
under release 8
12 months from feasibility

study to formal standards
approval
Figure 5-3
June 2009
TR 32.821
technical report
on HNB OAM
aspects
completed
under release 9
Other HNB
related TSs
completed in
Dec formally
approved and
published
October 2010
further updates to
TS 33.820 on
security aspects
to include LIPA,
mobility and CSG
support under
release 10
Dec 2009
TS 25.467
updated with
HNB mobility
and limited
interference
management
under release 9.
1st version of TS
33.820 with
security for HNB
requirements.
1st version of TS
25.444 on Iuh
data transport to
allow uplink CS
multiplexing.
Dec 2010
TS 25.467
updated with
LIPA and Iurh
under release
10. TS 25.469
also updated
with Iurh.
March 2011
TS 25.471 1st
completed under
release 10 with
Iurh definition.
TR 23.829 study
into LIPA and
SIPTO also 1st
published under
release 10.
Sept 2012
TS 25.471
updated under
release 11 to
include
connectivity
between RNCs
and HNBs
Further mobility
management
updates to TS
25.367 under
release 10.
Overview of the timeline for 3GPP standards related to femtocells and SCFs
supporting activities
By way of a summary of the current state of 3G femtocell standards within 3GPP, Figure 5-4 maps currently
available 3GPP 3G femtocell related standards against the Forums reference architecture. This highlights
the significant progress that has been made in standardising femtocell specific network elements and
interfaces in a UTRAN network at least.

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Figure 5-4
5.6
Mapping of 3GPP standards to the Small Cell Forum reference architecture
3GPP2 activities related to 3G (CDMA) femtocells
3GPP2 began work on femtocell standards in 2007 with the work split into two main phases:
Phase 1 femtocell specifications for integration with IMS voice architectures, completed in 2010
Phase 2 specifications for femtocells connecting to MSC/MSCe, completed in 2011
These differ from the 3GPP standards discussed earlier in that they relate to cdma 2000 networks as
opposed to UMTS but still have some similarities such as, for example, the use of TR-069 for management
messaging and the use of IPsec and IKEv2 for ensuring a secure connection to femtocells.
The main areas for femtocells defined within 3GPP2 include:
Requirements for femtocell systems given in S.R0126

A reference architecture for both legacy IOS based systems and IMS based systems detailed in
S.R0139, S.R0135 and X.S0059
A security framework, which makes use of IPsec and IKEv2, detailed in S.S0132
Interoperability specifications which include the use of TR-069 for OAM messaging and a cdma2000
femtocell specific data model which has been incorporated into issue 2 of TR-196. These are detailed in
A.S0024.Further details on these 3GPP2 standards are given in the Guide to 3G Femtocell standards For
homes and small offices [27] with the 3GPP2 standard architecture described in detail in [28].
5.7
TR-196: The Broadband Forum data model for managing

femtocells
The Broadband Forums involvement in femtocell specific standards and collaboration with the Small Cell
Forum has been centred around providing standard OAM messaging for femtocells. The backhaul connection
from a femtocell is via a public fixed broadband connection and so in the early stages of the small cell
industry around 2007 there was a need to define a messaging format for femtocells that was:
Secure over a public connection

Could support IP based connections as used in consumer home Internet connections
Many femtocell vendors realised that the Broadband Forums existing TR-069 messaging protocol, which
was already widely used in fixed broadband networks and set top boxes, matched these requirements and

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incorporated it into their products. TR-069 crucially included security mechanisms such as specification of a
security socket layer (SSL) and HTTP authentication.
However, one outstanding issue was that the existing Broadband Forum data models to be used with TR069 did not include femtocell specific parameters and settings and so collaborative work began in 2008
between the Small Cell Forum and Broadband Forum on a femtocell specific data model. The result was TR196 in April 2009 which is now widely adopted across femtocell vendors and has been incorporated,
alongside TR-069, into 3GPP femtocell standards related to OAM messaging and structures.
Further details of these Broadband Forum standards are given in the Guide to 3G Femtocell standards For
homes and small offices [29].
5.8
How the standards meet the market requirements
Following the extensive activities in the Small Cell Forum and the Standards Bodies, Table 5-1 shows that
the standards which have resulted meet virtually all of the requirements placed on them and are a real
milestone in timely and efficient standards making, responsive to market needs.
Requirement
How the requirement is met by the

standards bodies and Small Cell Forum
activities
There shall be a single definition of the Fa

interface supporting all radio technologies
Fa interface in 3GPP is known as the Iuh as

given in the 3GPP HNB reference architecture
in TS 25.467.
In the case of 3GPP2 and circuit switched
networks the Fa interface is made up of the
Fx1, Fx2 and Fx3 interfaces and for packet
switched networks the interfaces from the FAP
towards the core network use the same
interfaces as in a macrocellular network. These
are documented in S.R0139.
The Protocol shall adopt best of breed and

most efficient solutions
Standardised interfaces towards the FAP have

been specified with an IP transport layer in
mind. For example in 3GPP the Iuh between
the HNB and HNB-GW makes use of SCTP as
this is more suited to IP networks than SCCP
as used on similar interfaces in the
macrocellular network (see TS 25.467).
Fb Interfaces to core network shall be based

upon existing standardised interface
In both 3GPP and 3GPP2 the HNB-GW and FCS

(which are equivalent to the FAP-GW) provide
a standards interface to the core network as
would be found from a RNC or MSC in a
macrocellular network respectively.
FAP to network controller/gateway enables any

FAP to work with any core network
controller/gateway within a given technology
The femtocell reference architectures in both

3GPP and 3GPP2 include a femtocell gateway
like network element which acts as a
concentrator of femtocell connections to the
network and presents a standard non femto
specific interface to the macrocell network.
The interface between the FAP and this
gateway has been standardised in both
standards bodies to allow interoperability
amongst vendors. For example this interface is
the Iuh standardised in TS 25.467 in 3GPP.
If the technology has RNC functionality the

majority of the RNC functionality shall be in
the FAP to optimise the signalling between the
FAP and the gateway
The impact of controlling larger volumes of
femtocells on an operators existing network
The 3GPP HNB architecture description in TS

25.467 includes the functional split between
the HNB and HNB-GW. The majority of RNC
functionality is assigned to the HNB in this.
The femtocell reference architectures in both
3GPP and 3GPP2 include a femtocell gateway

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Requirement
How the requirement is met by the

standards bodies and Small Cell Forum
activities
like network element which acts as a
concentrator of femtocell connections to the
network and presents a standard non femto
specific interface to the macrocell network.
The security of the public Internet backhaul

connection to femtocells
Both 3GPP and 3GPP2 have specifications for

the security aspects of HNBs. These include
authentication of the FAP using IKEv2 with
certificates, the use of a security gateway to
secure connections between the FAP and
remainder of the operators network and use
of IPsec for securing the backhaul link. This is
covered by TS 33.320 in 3GPP and the security
framework S.S0132 in 3GPP2.
The need for femtocell products to support a

flatter network architecture with RNC
capability incorporated in the femtocell
subsystem of the network
The need for common elements and interfaces
within the femtocell network sub-system so
that operators did not become tied in to a
single vendors approach or solution
The 3GPP HNB architecture description in TS

25.467 includes the functional split between
the HNB and HNB-GW. The majority of RNC
functionality is assigned to the HNB in this.
Both 3GPP and 3GPP2 have specified femtocell
specific architectures and the interfaces within
these. For 3GPP this is given in TS 25.467 and
for 3GPP2 see S.R0139.
The need for femtocell specific operation and

maintenance which included a requirement for
location awareness
Both 3GPP and 3GPP2 have adopted the

Broadband Forum TR-069 management
protocol and TR-196 data model for femtocell
OAM messaging.
3GPP has completed a series of documents
specifying OAM for HNBs TS 32.581, 32,582,
32.583 and 32.584.
Building on available technology and

recognized industry standards the architecture
will deliver the best combination of features.
The femtocell reference architectures defined

in both 3GPP and 3GPP2 draw heavily upon
the combination of features and network
elements first outlined in the SCFs own
reference architecture, which in turn was
based upon a synthesis of the best elements
of candidate architectures proposed by SCF
members.
Table 5-1
How femtocells standards meet market requirements

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6. Interoperability
6.1
Why is open interoperability a founding principle of Small Cell

Forum?
Open interoperability has always been one of the key goals of Small Cell Forum. The goal is there for very
practical reasons, namely the need to ensure:
Operators have wide choice to meet the needs of their customers

Vendors can develop on common basis to allow reuse
Drive economies of scale via volumes
In order to achieve these needs, the standards already described are essential, but they are not in
themselves sufficient. It is important also to ensure that:
The standards are appropriate for the market needs and are widely supported
The standards are consistently interpreted by those implementing them
That they are kept up-to-date with experience of practical deployments to rectify any errors or
omissions.
Two major additional activities have been undertaken to deliver on these needs: an ongoing series of
plugfests, described in the next section and the creation of a standard Framework to describe femtocells
product features.
6.2
Plugfests: Small Cell Forum cooperation with ETSI
To achieve these additional goals, it is typical to conduct some form of interoperability testing. In the mobile
industry, most such testing is conducted to meet particular operator requirements, but given the massmarket nature of femtocells it was desirable to conduct such tests in a more open environment and gather
as many vendors as possible. No other body was enabling such tests in the timescales desired by Forum
members, so the Small Cell Forum has initiated an ongoing series of plugfests, acting as a comprehensive
interoperability testing programme to validate and promote the 3GPP standards. All the plugfests have been
conducted in cooperation with ETSI and facilitated by TRaC Global. The primary objective of these plugfests
is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the 3GPP femtocell standards in supporting interoperability between
femtocell access points and network equipment from different vendors, ensuring a consistent interpretation
of the standards.
6.2.1
Plugfests to date
Three plugfests have been conducted to date:
Small Cell Forum UMTS Femtocell Plugfest 1: This first plugfest, conducted in March 2010,
focussed on the 3GPP Release 8 Iuh interface (the interface between the femtocell access point
and HNB gateway). Interoperability tests were conducted between femtocell network gateways,
security gateways, femtocell access points and chipsets. The plugfest also tested the IPsec/IKEv2
security protocols which allow femtocells to communicate over the public internet to operators
core networks in a highly secure manner and defines the secure interface between femtocell
access points and femtocell gateways in the core network.
Small Cell Forum UMTS Femtocell Plugfest 2: The second plugfest took place in January
2011, and added the Broadband Forums femtocell management standard on top of the testing
of Iuh and security protocols. Broadband Forums femtocell management standard (TR-196) was
published in April 2009 and is an extension of the TR-069 standard that is widely used in fixed
broadband networks and in set-top boxes. The femtocell standard allows mobile operators to
simplify deployment and enable automated remote provisioning, diagnostics-checking and
software updates.
Small Cell Forum UMTS Femtocell Plugfest 3: The third plugfest took place in June 2011,
this time focused on the 3GPP release 9 femtocell standard. It built upon the previous plugfests
by undertaking true end-to-end testing using a real macro network to test hand-over between
femtocells and surrounding base stations, as well as using France Telecoms core network to test
femtocell integration. The femtocell interoperability was tested from a zero-touch installation
through to voice and data calls, emergency calling and hand-over with the macro network.

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6.2.2
Plugfest roadmap and next steps
The plugfest programme has been an important step, bringing together a wider of vendors than had
previously interoperated and building confidence in the maturity and appropriateness of the standards.
Some clear trends have emerged from the plugfests:
Steadily increasing scope of tests

Steadily increasing pass rate
Strong support amongst vendors
These points provide good evidence that the plugfest programme is meeting its initial goals. The Forum is
continuing its support for plugfests with plans for future events to incorporate deeper functionality and
moves towards LTE.
6.3
A further vital step towards open interoperability for

femtocells
To further support a consistent ecosystem of open, interoperable 3G femtocells, SCF has defined a standard
framework for vendors to specify the features supported by their femtocell products. This framework
includes the following elements:
HNB backhaul interface

Remote configuration and HNB management by the HMS
Self-configuration of the FAP
Defined technology and access mode
Call capacity
Power consumption
Call establishment
Mobility management
The framework is available to SCF members and allows operators to specify their requirements in a
consistent fashion in their Requests for Proposals.
In the future, it is intended to develop this framework into a Profile, to include a minimum set of features
and associated requirements, with the following aims:
Define a minimum set of features which provide a basic minimum gate for 3G femtocell
functionality. Essentially, unless a femtocell meets this full set of features, it is unlikely to be
useful for mass deployment by any operators.
Allow operators to easily specify the basic end-to-end functionality needed for a viable 3G
femtocell network and to compare vendor offers on a consistent basis
Allow vendors to declare compliance as an indication of credibility and qualification for their
offers to operators
Operators will then be able to incorporate the features by reference to the Profile. This will not in any way
reduce the opportunity for differentiation amongst vendors or operators: it will instead specify a minimal but
meaningful baseline which enables a viable femtocell capability. It will not include the advanced features,
capabilities or operational enhancements which allow truly competitive and differentiated services to be
delivered.
Once the Profile is widely accepted, it can be used to specify a set of tests which could be conducted and
verified once by an approved facility and the results of these tests can be accepted by multiple operators,
reducing the costs for vendors of tests which would otherwise have to be repeated and allowing both
operators and vendors to concentrate their efforts on the additional operator-specific features.
The definition of the Framework as a stage towards a future Profile is a significant step, which will benefit
the entire industry and end-users in a similar fashion to how the benefits achieved from the open
interoperability of DSL modems contributed to the explosion of the adoption of always-on internet
connections.

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7. Regulatory issues
Clear regulations are important to permit expedited deployment of femtocells, avoiding deployment risks for
operators. Just as importantly, however, femtocells can help regulators meet their goals for society and
economy. Femtocells create several opportunities to meet the objectives which regulators set out to
achieve. Some of these are as follows:
Improved Access: Femtocells provide a cost effective means of improving consumer access to
mobile services. They improve coverage in hard-to-reach indoor environments, without the need
to deploy large numbers of outdoor base stations. They deliver truly broadband mobile services
within existing spectrum. In rural and remote areas, femtocells allow customers to access
services which would otherwise be hard for operators to serve economically, thereby promoting
inclusion, reducing the digital divide and expanding opportunities for remote communities to be
fully connected.
Spectrum efficiency: Femtocells can reuse existing mobile operator spectrum for operation,
including both currently unused frequencies and frequencies already used by outdoor sites. They
also open up the use of higher frequencies whose range might be excessively limited for widearea operation, increasing the overall available spectrum. They can also operate happily in lower
frequency bands, reducing their transmit power accordingly to avoid harmful interference.
Innovation and opportunity: By reducing the deployment and operating cost of mobile broadband
services, femtocells increase the value of services for both consumers and service providers.
Most significantly, they make a broadband connection more attractive to consumers by easily
enabling the use of an operator-compatible mobile device in the home the consumer does not
have to think about what device or what network to use when transitioning to or from a home
environment. They increase the range of service models available to operators, encouraging
competition and efficiency. They also enable newer technologies to be delivered to customers
more quickly and they provide a platform for delivering new applications and services to existing
devices with attractive tariffs.
The Small Cell Forum is committed to working with its members and international regulators to encourage a
positive regulatory environment for femtocell deployments. It has a dedicated Regulatory working group,
supporting the Forums regulatory objectives which are:
To encourage a consistent regulatory environment in a wide range of administrations, giving

operators and vendors access to wider markets and thereby generating economies for providers
and consumers alike.
To assist regulators in understanding the regulatory issues associated with femtocells and where
necessary to clarify regulations to enable their citizens to gain full access to femtocell services.
To ensure that any necessary clarification is identified and dealt with ahead of the time at which
operators wish to provide services, permitting the benefits to be achieved in a timely fashion.
To provide Small Cell Forum members with knowledge of the status of the regulatory
environment for femtocells across the world.
As a new technology, femtocells do raise questions as to the way they fit with existing regulations. The
Small Cell Forums members have considered these questions and in general believe that very few changes,
if any, to regulations are required. Indeed, some environments may not need any changes at all. Some
regulatory issues have been highlighted such as the need for appropriate base licencing arrangements and
minor adjustments to the need to maintain records. Based on this outcome, in many parts of the world
regulators have moved to support and clarify the position as regards femtocells leading to successful
deployments. Examples include:
USA: In the United States, the FCC chairman has encouraged more innovative and efficient uses
of spectrum. In a keynote speech to the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011, he said
Well continue to encourage dynamic spectrum sharing and secondary markets for spectrum, as
well as development and deployment of femtocells, smart antenna technology, and devices that
can access unlicensed spectrum like Wi-Fi to off-load traffic from cellular networks.
Taiwan: In November 2010, the Taiwanese National Communications Committee (their highest
level communications regulatory body) announced that they had approved the islands telecoms
carriers to supply femtocell units to enable them to extend mobile broadband connections to
users houses. As a result, Taiwans top three telecom carriers said they would start a major
femtocell procurement campaign and would be offering subscribers a subsidy on the devices in
2011.
UK: In June 2009 the UK communications regulator Ofcom provided clarity on its approach to
femtocell regulation. It clarified that regulations on the provision of emergency call location and
national roaming access to emergency calls applied equally to femtocell users as to macrocell
users. It also proposed to vary the existing operator 3G licences to remove the requirement to

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keep records of the location and technical details of femtocell equipment, recognising that this
may be impractical for a wide deployment of femtocells.
Japan: In Japan, noting that there were several aspects of the existing regulations that were not
entirely aligned to femtocells, the Japanese regulators conducted a series of consultations during
2008, and announced the outcome in December 2008. The outcome included a relaxation of a
previous requirement for trained personnel to apply power to all classes of base station, enabling
femtocells to be installed by end users. For this purpose a particular definition of femtocells was
provided, including a specified low output power and requiring that transmissions only occur
when connectivity to the operator network is available.
ITU: In July 2009 the International Telecommunications Union provided a common description of
Femto Access Nodes, reflecting the current state of the industry and not constraining future
developments.
European Union: In 2008, the European Unions Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) considered
spectrum issues for femtocells. It decided that, in view of the control which operators can exert
over femtocells as part of their existing network, femtocells could operate under the existing
spectrum licensing regimes of EU member states and there was no current need for the RSC to
take action. They also noted that the increased spectrum efficiency available from femtocells was
a positive development.
China: In September 2009 at the China Femtocell Symposium, XieFeibo, Director of State Radio
Regulatory Committee, MIIT stated: Femtocells are an excellent technology that combine the
technical advantages of wireless and fixed line. From my point of view, femtocells should be
adopted, and enthusiastically promoted.
Further information on regulatory aspects of femtocells are available in a white paper at [30] and in a
website dedicated to regulators: see 1 for details.
Consumer health is an important concern for the mobile industry. This is why Small Cell Forum members
are designing their products to fully comply with the guidelines for human exposure to electromagnetic
emissions issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and other
relevant regulatory authorities. Our document produced in association with GSMA and Mobile Manufacturers
Forum spells out the facts [31].
http://www.smallcellforum.org/aboutsmallcells-regulatory-regulatory-activities

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8. Value-added services
8.1
How can femtocells enable value-added services?
While femtocells clearly deliver a high quality, rapid deployment, cost effective platform for existing mobile
voice, messaging and data services, their widespread deployment also offers the potential to deliver brand
new services, as well as services whose features are specifically enhanced via femtocells. This potential
arises by leveraging the unique characteristics of femtocells including:
presence based services,

triggers that launch applications when user mobile equipment enters or leaves a small cell zone
location based services (LBS) that leverage the small footprint of femtocells to deliver LBS,
especially in indoor environments or locations where GPS or other pin point methods are not
available.
Based on this, small cells facilitate a new breed of mobile service that exploits the technologys ability to
detect presence, and connect and interact with existing networks. These capabilities are distinctive relative
to other approaches due to their:
High location precision

Always-on capability without relying on user interaction
Support for all mobile devices without special client software
Secured connection to an established billing system
Importantly, it appears that customers are interested in femtocell-enhanced services and are prepared to
pay more for them. The 6-nation consumer survey conducted for Small Cell Forum by Parks Associates
indicates that of the 60% of consumers who found small cells either very or extremely appealing, 72% of
these consumers who found femtocells appealing were very interested in at least one advanced femtocell
service [32 ]. Half of these were willing to pay $4.99/month for their single favourite service or $9.99/month
for a bundle of their favourite three small cell services.
8.2
Femtocell service examples
It is not the role of the Small Cell Forum to dictate which services will be of most interest, but its members
have suggested and experimented with a wide range of possibilities which help to illustrate the possibilities.
Examples include:
Location-specific tariffs, such as large voice bundles when at home or increased data availability
in specific public spaces
Chameleon home screen, where the phone changes the selection of apps presented when at
home or in the office compared to those in general usage
A Museum information guide, where multimedia explanations of the exhibits adjacent to the user
are made available, similar to existing guides but using standard smartphones/tablets and
providing an opportunity to build a customer relationship with the venue.
Virtual home number (rings all mobile phones currently in the home), allowing families to keep a
home number even if they cancel their fixed line phone.
Get automatic SMS alerts when your kids arrive or depart the home, providing reassurance for
working parents.
Automatic Im at home profile / presence update on social networking websites.
Automatic back-up of photos and videos from your phone to the web and / or your PC when you
arrive at home.
Automatic podcast reload on your phone when you get home, avoiding the hassle of having to
manually synchronise with a PC.
Future generations of femtocells will connect your mobile phone to your home network, allowing
you to do many things such as play a slide show of photos from your phone on your TV, stream
videos from your Digital Video Recorder to view on your phone, and use your phone to control
other devices in the home (e.g. to instruct the Hi-Fi system to play music stored on a home
computer or media server).
The specific applications of most interest and the consumer willingness to pay will vary widely between
consumers and between markets, as indicated in Figure 8-1.

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Figure 8-1
8.3
Price sensitivity of new femtocell services from [33]
What has Small Cell Forum done to enable development of

femtocell services?
The Small Cell Forum has an active developer outreach initiative to enable and encourage development of
small cell services. Key elements of this initiative have included:
The development of an Applications Programming Interface (API) for small cell services, with a
first version published as contained in [34]
Inclusion of the API within the GSMA OneAPI initiative and demonstration of the API at Mobile
World Congress with GSMA in their apps garage
A cooperation agreement with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to standardise APIs for the entire
mobile community
Development of an emulator which enables a developer located anywhere in the world to create
and write applications for Mobile Network Operators located anywhere else in the world.
inclusion
An active Developer community
More details of the opportunity for small cell services are in [35] and a dedicated developer website at 2
provides further details of application examples, technical support and means of joining the developer forum
and accessing the Emulator.
http://www.smallcellforum.org/developers/

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9. Market progress
9.1
The femtocell ecosystem
The Small Cell Forum set out in 2007 to build a full ecosystem of technology players covering all parts of the
vendor and operator space. As at December 2012, a fully featured ecosystem spanning all parts of the
industry has developed as evinced by Forum membership, illustrated in Figure 9-1. This ecosystem
comprises:
62 operator members, accounting for more than 2.9 billion mobile subscribers 44% of the
global total.
70 vendor members including:
8 providers of end-to-end and system integration capabilities
19 small cell access point providers
21 vendors of core network components
23 component, software and tools vendors
Figure 9-1
9.2
Small Cell Forum membership represents a fully featured industry ecosystem
Operator deployments
When the Small Cell Forum was founded in 2007, there were no commercial deployments of femtocells. By
December 2012 there were 46 commercial deployments and a total of 60 public commitments to deploy,
showing considerable growth as illustrated in Figure 9-2. These include deployments by nine out of the top
ten operators by revenue, several markets in which more than one operator is offering a competitive service
and some (including the UK and France) where all operators are offering or have committed to offer a
femtocell service.
The Forum publishes a free quarterly update providing details of the latest deployments and independent
forecasts from which these statistics were drawn [36]

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Figure 9-2
Growth of commercial femtocell deployments and commitments Source: [Error!

Bookmark not defined.]
A full list of deployments and links to operator websites for further details is available at3.
9.3
Numbers of femtocells deployed
The number of femtocells deployed has grown rapidly. Some key milestones include:
9.4
June 2011: 3G femtocells first outnumbered 3G base stations [37]

October 2012: Small cells as a whole first outnumbered traditional base stations across all
technologies at 6 million small cells versus 5.9 million macrocells [38]
October 2012: First million-femtocell operator. In the US, Sprint confirmed that their network
included over a million active femtocells, while analyst forecasts suggested a similar number in
the AT&T network. Softbank and Vodafone UK deployments are also reported at above 100,000
femtocells. [39]
February 2013: Femtocells alone outnumber macrocells.
Forecasts
Femtocells are forecast by analysts to grow strongly over the coming years. The forecasts in Figure 9-3
indicate that there will be 91 million small cells in the market by the end of 2016, the vast majority of which
will be femtocells. Other relevant forecasts include:
Juniper Research published a new report claiming that small cells will account for a steadily
increasing proportion of offloaded data over the forecast period (2012-2016), reaching over 12%
by 2016 (Juniper Research, June 2012)
Infonetics predict that during 2016, 3 million small cells will be shipped and the market will be
worth about US$2.1 billion. Public-space femtocells will make up more than 50% of all small cells
shipped in 2012 and 2013; 3G small cells will account for 63% of global small-cell shipments,
with 4G small cells kicking off and ramping up rapidly to make up 37%.(Infonetics, March 2012)
http://www.smallcellforum.org/aboutsmallcells-small-cells-consumer-faqs#Where

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Figure 9-3
Global small cell deployment forecasts by category 2011-16 Source: Informa

Telecoms & Media [40]

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10. Conclusions
10.1
What has been achieved?
The content of SCF Release One: Home represents a distillation of several years of work within the Small
Cell Forum, with contributions from the leading operators, vendors and consultants in the space. It fully
reflects the Small Cell Forums close collaboration with standards organisations including 3GPP, 3GPP2 and
the Broadband Forum. These collaborations have been seminal in establishing that consensus-based
standards reflecting market needs and small cell innovation were available in a sufficiently timely fashion to
support todays million-scale femtocell deployments. The key achievements of that collaboration and
internal Forum work, fully reflected in this document and the supporting body of work, include:
10.2
A fully articulated business case for femtocells, reflecting a wide range of operator targets and
deployment models
Identification of the must-have techniques to ensure spectrum can be reused efficiently without
creating harmful interference but making best opportunity of femtocells capability to enhance
coverage, capacity and user experience without excessive operational complexity
Achieving the industry standard Iuh architecture in 3GPP and the IOS/IMS architectures in
3GPP2 to provide standardised interfaces between femtocells and the associated core networks
in a way which efficiently meets operator service requirements while working reliably and
securely over even bandwidth-constrained residential internet connections
Ensuring that these standards are complied with, interpreted in a consistent manner and
enhanced in the light of operational experience via an ongoing programme of industry plugfests
The development of a Framework for specifying femtocell features as a step towards the first
femtocell Profile, allowing operators to specify a common baseline for femtocell functionality and
for vendors to demonstrate explicit compliance with the most common operator needs
Support for regulators, ensuring that operators are permitted to use their existing spectrum and
networks to achieve social and economic benefits which accrue to femtocell users
The creation of a complete and fully featured industry ecosystem, from chip and access point
suppliers to integrators of complete femtocells networks and all associated components and
know-how
Identification of the opportunity for value-added femtocell-based services, supported by a
standards-based API and developer community
Articulating the opportunity for fully integrated small cell / Wi-Fi networks for fine-grained
intelligent traffic management and offload, producing a vision for future Heterogeneous Networks
which is fully shared with our partners in the Wireless Broadband Alliance.
A formula for success
Femtocells have gone from concept to mass-scale reality in relatively short space of time (cite record
development of standards to plugfest) by clearly identifying:
Market needs
Operator requirements
Potential barriers and associated solutions
Consensus-based standards
Business as well as technical factors
Building a strong ecosystem working with operators and vendors in close partnership
This is a formula for success which the Small Cell Forum is in the process of repeating for other small cell
applications, including:
10.3
Enterprise small cells

Metrocells
Small cells for rural application
Into the future
Femtocells have produced notable market success to date and we characterise the market up to the end of
2012 as having been in its early adopter phase. From 2013 and into the future we identify trends, and
indeed as is the purpose of this document, that show how the market is standardising solutions and in the
early majority phase with rapid uptake of the solutions occurring. Directions for this evolution include:
Wider deployments, for more operators in more territories against proven deployment models

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Extension to supporting value added and connected home services as operators enrich and
integrate their services
Integration with Wi-Fi for increasingly seamless service delivery
LTE femtocells to raise data-rates and extend the reach of the macro LTE networks
The Small Cell Forum and its members are active in these areas already, paving the way for several future
waves of femtocell success.

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Abbreviations (across Release One)

3GPP
Third Generation Partnership Project
3GPP2
cdma 2000 standards body
AAA
Authentication, Authorization and Accounting Server
ACLR
Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio
ACS
Adjacent Channel Selectivity
ACS
Auto Configuration Server
API
Application Programming Interface
BOM
Bill of Materials
CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access
CS
Circuit switched
CSG
Closed Subscriber Group
CLV
Customer Lifetime Value
CWMP
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) WAN Management Protocol
DAS
Distributed Antenna Systems
DCH
Dedicated Channel
ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
FAP
Femtocell Access Point
FAPI
Femtocell Application Platform Interface
FAP-MS
Femtocell Access Point Management System
FCC
Federal Communications Commission
FDD
Frequency Division Duplex
FGW
Femtocell Access Point Gateway
FGW-MS
Femtocell Gateway Management System
FMS
Femtocell Management System
GPS
Global Positioning System
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications
GSM-A
GSM Association
GTP-U
GPRS Tunnelling Protocol User Plane
HMS
HNB Management System
HNB
Home Node B
HNBAP
Home Node B Application Part

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HNB-GW
Home Node B Gateway
HPLMN
Home Public Land Mobile Network
HPM
Hosting Party Module
HRPD
High Rate Packet Data
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HW
Hardware
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
IKEv2
Internet Key Exchange V2
IMS
IP Multimedia Subsystem
IMT
International Mobile Telecommunications
IOS
Interoperability Specification
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security
IP
Internet Protocol
ITU-R
International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunications
LBS
Location Based Services
LIPA
Local IP Breakout
LTE
Long Term Evolution
MIMO
Multiple Input Multiple Output
MSC(e)
(Evolved) Mobile Switching Centre
NTP
Network Timing Protocol
OAM
Operations and Maintenance
OMA
Open Mobile Alliance
PS
Packet Switched
PTP
Precision Timing Protocol
RACH
Random Access Channel
RAN
Radio Access Network
RANAP
Radio Access Network Application Part
RF
Radio Frequency
RNA
Radio Network Subsystem Application Part (RNSAP) User Adaption
RNC
Radio Network Controller
RNSAP
Radio Network Subsystem Application Part
RTP
Real Time Protocol

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RUA
Radio Access Network Application Part (RANAP) User Adaption
SCAPI
Small Cell Application Platform Interface
SCCP
Signalling Connection Control Part
SCF
Small Cell Forum
SCTP
Stream Control Transmission Protocol
SeGW
Security Gateway
SGW
Serving Gateway
SGSN
Serving GPRS Support Node
SIPTO
Selected IP Traffic Offload
SoHo
Small Office Home Office
SON
Self Organising Networks
SSL
Secure Socket Layer
TLS
Transport Layer Security
TrE
Trusted Environment
UE
User Equipment
UMTS
Universally Mobile Telecommunications System
UTRAN
UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
WCDMA
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

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References
1 The Small Cell Suite: Small Cell Forums Release Roadmap, SCF 100.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/100
2 Small Cell Home: Overview of SCF Release One (this document), SCF 01.101.01 www.scf.io/doc/101
3 Global Consumer Survey of In-Home Mobile Services and Femtocells - Parks Associates , SCF 026.01.02
www.scf.io/doc/026
4 Femtocells - Natural Solution for Offload, SCF 016.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/016
5 Wireless in the Home & Office: the need for both 3G femtocells and Wi-Fi access points, SCF 007.01.02
www.scf.io/doc/007
6 Femtocell Business Case - Signals Research, SCF 005.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/005
7 The Business Case for Femtocells in the Mobile Broadband Era - Signals Research, SCF 013.01.02
www.scf.io/doc/013
8 Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells ("High-band"), SCF 003.01.02 http://www.scf.io/doc/003
9 Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells ("Low-band"), SCF 009.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/009
10 Topic brief: Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells, SCF 008.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/008
11 Topic brief: Femtocell synchronisation and location, SCF 036.01.2 www.scf.io/doc/036
12 3GPP 3G femtocell standards overview, SCF 044.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/044
13 Femtocell Systems Overview for cdma2000 Wireless Communication Systems, 3GPP2 S.R0139-0, SCF
041.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/041
14 3G FAPI, SCF 048.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/048
15 Regulatory Aspects of Femtocells SCF 002.01.03 www.scf.io/doc/002
16 Femtocells and Health, SCF 001.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/001
17 Small Cell Services, SCF 046.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/046
18 FemtoZone Services (Release One) RESTful Bindings, SCF 040.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/040
19 Small cell market status Q4 2012, Informa, SCF 043.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/043
20 98% of Mobile Operators Say Small Cells Essential for Future of Networks, Small Cell Forum press
release, December 2012, www.smallcellforum.org/newsstory-98-percent-of-mobile-operators-saysmall-cells-essential-for-future-of-networks
21 Small cells: whats the big idea?, SCF 030.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/030
22 Integrated Femto-WiFi networks, SCF 052.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/052
23 Wireless Broadband Alliance & Small Cell Forum Cooperate to Integrate Wi-Fi Hotspots & Small Cells,
Small Cell Forum press release, 5th November 2012 www.smallcellforum.org/newsstory-wirelessbroadband-alliance-and-small-cell-forum-cooperate-to-integrate-wi-fi-hotspots-and-small-cells
041.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/041
26 Femto Forum members see eye-to-eye on femtocell architecture, Small Cell Forum press release, 21st
May 2008, www.smallcellforum.org/newsstory-femto-forum-members-see-eye-to-eye-on-femtocellarchitecture
041.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/041
30 Regulatory Aspects of Femtocells SCF 002.01.03 www.scf.io/doc/002
31 Femtocells and Health, SCF 001.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/001
32 Global Consumer Survey of In-Home Mobile Services and Femtocells - Parks Associates , SCF
026.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/026
33 Global Consumer Survey of In-Home Mobile Services and Femtocells - Parks Associates , SCF
026.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/026
34 FemtoZone Services (Release One) RESTful Bindings, SCF 040.01.02 www.scf.io/doc/040
35 Small Cell Services, SCF 046.01.01 www.scf.io/doc/046
37 3G femtocells now outnumber conventional 3G basestations globally, Small Cell Forum press release,
21st June 2011, www.smallcellforum.org/newsstory-3g-femtocells-now-outnumber-conventional-3gbasestations-globally
38 Small Cells Outnumber Traditional Mobile Base Stations, Small Cell Forum press release, 31st October
2011, www.smallcellforum.org/newsstory-small-cells-outnumber-traditional-mobile-base-stations
39 Sprint's femtocell tally tops 1M, Fierce Wireless, October 24 2012,
www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-femtocell-tally-tops-1m/2012-10-24

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101 Release One Home Overview

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SMALL CELL FORUM

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Introduction and Contents ............................................... 1

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Plugfests: Small Cell Forum cooperation with ETSI .................24

Full set of documents under SCF Release One Home ........................... 4

How femtocells standards meet market requirements ....................... 23

An increasing proportion of mobile usage is indoors [source: Informa] .. 5

In-home mobile voice call problems impact customer churn Source:

Femtocells are part of a continuum of applications of small cell

Typical femtocell deployment scenario .............................................. 7

Wi-Fi usage frequency positively correlates with femtocells appeal ........ 9

Example customer lifetime value (CLV) waterfall chart ...................... 11

A representative example of a femtocell business case. Details in [4] .. 12

Reduction in cost of carrying additional mobile data over femtocells

Challenging interference scenarios for femtocell deployment .............. 15

Small Cell Forum Reference Architecture ......................................... 18

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Small Cell Forum Operator Requirements for 3G Femtocell

Overview of the timeline for 3GPP standards related to femtocells and

Mapping of 3GPP standards to the Small Cell Forum reference

Price sensitivity of new femtocell services from [Error! Bookmark not

Small Cell Forum membership represents a fully featured industry

Growth of commercial femtocell deployments and commitments

Global small cell deployment forecasts by category 2011-16 Source:

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

1. Introduction and Contents

Motivation for this overview

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Title (with link to online source of document)

Small Cell Home: Overview of SCF Release One (this

Global Consumer Survey of In-Home Mobile Services and

Femtocells - Natural Solution for Offload

Wireless in the Home & Office: the need for both 3G

Femtocell Business Case - Signals Research

Spectrum and Interference Management

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Title (with link to online source of document)

Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells ("High-band")

Topic brief: Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells

Topic brief: Femtocell synchronisation and location

Architecture and Standards

3G femtocell standards overview

Femtocell Systems Overview for cdma2000 Wireless

3G Small Cell Layer 1 API: Message Flow Definition

Regulatory Aspects of Femtocells

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Title (with link to online source of document)

Small Cell Services

FemtoZone Services (Release One) RESTful Bindings

Small cell market status Q4 2012 Informa

Full set of documents under SCF Release One Home

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

2. Market drivers Why Femtocells?

An increasing proportion of mobile usage is indoors [source: Informa]

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Capacity & Quality of Experience

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Femtocells: Meeting the Market Needs

Femtocells are part of a continuum of applications of small cell technology

Typical femtocell deployment scenario

Report title: Small Cell Forum Release One: Home

Operating in licensed spectrum: By operating in licensed spectrum licensed to the service