Verizon launching Wireless Network Extender femtocell on January 25
Sprint had the jump on this by a few months with its AIRAVE, but Verizon's not far behind in bringing femotcells to the masses with its less-elegantly-named Wireless Network Extender later this month on the 25th.
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon had been building its mobile-data proposition since its 2007 faster wireless broadband rollout. Sprint, however, reached the home-coverage product category first with AIRAVE several months earlier.
The January launch narrows that product gap, giving Verizon a localized network complement alongside its broader wireless service rather than leaving Sprint with the category to itself.
First-order effects
- Verizon gains a home-focused femtocell offering on January 25, giving its subscribers an alternative for coverage in locations served poorly by the wider network.
- Sprint's AIRAVE loses its several-month head start as the only named carrier product in the category.
Second-order effects
- Verizon and Sprint's network competition expands beyond broad coverage and mobile-data speed to include the quality of service subscribers can create at home.
- The Wireless Network Extender becomes a distinct Verizon product and support obligation, tying the carrier's customer experience to equipment deployed in subscribers' homes.
Third-order effects
- If other carriers match the category, cellular service increasingly becomes a layered model: wide-area networks supplemented by carrier-managed equipment in hard-to-serve indoor locations.
The trend: U.S. carriers are extending network competition from macro-network buildout into carrier-branded solutions for indoor coverage.