Saw an advert by Vodafone recently talking about the launch of their femtocell gateway. It caught my attention because B was designing the gateway last year - was exciting seeing something finally enter the market. There are two Vodafone pricing models - a one-off purchase and a monthly rental. But I do wonder if the product will ever take-off.

Will the customer really be willing to invest in a femtocell gateway for their home?

Unless the user has atrocious signal at home and it is imperative that they have cellular connectivity, I doubt it will pick up. There may certainly be the early-adopters but for a mass adoption, there has to be a strong buying rationale.

The key question for me is - what is the business model? Who is getting the benefit and who will pick up the cost of the gateway? Were it a feature of the triple-play gateway provided by BT, France Telecom etc, I can see a demand for it - I can also see people talking about the feature and wanting it - along with their exisiting box with is provided by the operator. But to go out and purchase and additional piece of equipment..well...

And then we come to the small offices which may have been another market. But here you have fixed mobile converged solutions wherein all the mobile traffic can be diverted on an IP network.

Of course, thats where the business model comes in. The gateway is provided to the end user by the cable/ IP service provider who may or may not have an interest in providing a femtocell connectivity in the gateway. Do we see any joint opportunities say between a BT and a Vodafone?

Just talking about me, I am already pained by the fact that with the Sky box, I have to use an additional wireless modem unlike the BT triple-play gateway....