• by Aaron Baar , December 11, 2009

Many Americans don't know what femtocell technology is. But when they find out what it does, they like it. And that may represent another growth opportunity for telecommunications marketers.

According to a survey of 1,000 U.S. mobile consumers by ABI Research, more than half said they were interested in the technology, which improves cellular coverage and capacity indoors via a broadband connection. In the survey, nearly 25% of the respondents said they were "extremely interested" in the product, while another 31% said they were "somewhat interested," says Aditya Kaul, practice director for mobile networks at ABI. (Although many consumers are befuddled with the name femtocell, ABI provided a description of the service and how it works to those surveyed, Kaul says.)

"Interest level remains high," Kaul tells Marketing Daily. "This significant finding shows that more aggressive marketing and consumer education campaigns by carriers should be able to produce positive outcomes for the market."

Despite that high level of interest, however, the cell phone companies have not yet begun heavy marketing behind the technology. The reasons, Kaul says, are many. But one of the main concerns is price. Currently, the base stations are available from manufacturers at a cost between $150 and $300, Kaul says. Passing that cost on to consumers could be a hard sell.

"That's something they'd have to subsidize heavily to push it substantially," Kaul says. "A lot of the people [anecdotally] were against paying for it. It goes against what [they feel] the carrier should be providing for them."

Another obstacle is conflicting marketing messages. With wireless companies touting their network strengths, coming out with a message essentially admitting there are coverage gaps in a person's home might work against each other. "It's a bit difficult for a carrier to talk about coverage and then to say perhaps it's not that good," Kaul says. "From a marketing perspective, it's a bit dodgy."

Still, the interest level among consumers should eventually lead to marketers finding a way to sell the product, Kaul says. "A lot of consumers don't know what this device is. They're not sure if this is something they need or don't need," Kaul says. "These are the ones that are not being targeted, and that's a pretty big chunk of people who are not getting the information."

Indeed, some carriers have begun experimenting with marketing femtocell products in bundled packages. And it's likely, as consumers become more educated and employees become more knowledgeable, that marketing behind the technology will increase.

"There are a lot of the value propositions that should become clearer soon," Kaul says. "And 2010 should be much different than 2009."