Femtocells are gaining traction among telcos, but carriers face stiff quality challenges in the emerging home femto market, warns T&M firm Tektronix.
The femtocell architecture includes new network elements "that are unproven in a mobile network environment and where expectations for quality are very high," Tektronix president Rich McBee said yesterday.
McBee said the home node B located in the home would be "exposed to external factors unforeseen by traditional network elements that are typically housed at the central office or in a secure location."
At the same time, consumers would expect the same quality of service that they received via traditional mobile networks.
Home femto networks also threw up network management and maintenance issues, such as traffic prioritization and ISP/SLA management, McBee added.