How can broadband providers take advantage of the market opportunities created by Femtocells?
Despite increased traffic and possible investment in extra network capacity it is very unlikely that broadband providers would start charging consumers a flat fee for connecting a Femtocell to their network because the traffic generated from the Femtocell hits the wholesale broadband network in the home and the consumer already pays for this service. Technically speaking, because the broadband service provider transports the mobile operator’s traffic to its core network it therefore enables the possibility to bill the mobile operators for its services, although this is not as straight-forward as it sounds. BT is petitioning to lower ‘Mobile Termination Rates’ (MTR) to reduce the cost for its customers. MTR is applied when someone makes a call to a different mobile network, or calls a mobile from their landline, because the mobile phone operator charges a fee for carrying the call – a cost which is passed onto the consumer. So can a broadband provider, such as BT, realistically impose a
