The viability of providing mobile broadband with cognitive femtocells

The viability of providing mobile broadband with cognitive femtocells is evaluated by performing a business case analysis for a scenario where a Fixed Broadband Operator (FBO) uses this approach to extend its offering to include a mobile broadband service. The collective coverage provided by randomly located cognitive femtocells is determined and used to estimate how much of the traffic that will go over the cognitive femtocells and therefore generate revenues for the FBO. With the assumptions made, the cognitive femtocell based mobile broadband service is found to be a reasonable business case for the FBO. The investments over the first few years are moderate and the accumulated cash flow becomes positive after four years. The sensitivity analysis shows that the subscription fee and the general Operational Expenditure (OPEX) are the most critical assumptions in the business case analysis, and that the cost of the cognitive femtocells and their coverage range in suburban areas has a significant influence on the profitability.