“It certainly ought to be possible to meet these prices," says ip.access VP of marketing Andy Tiller in an email response to questions. "How quickly this can be done depends on the rate at which component suppliers can create integrated component sets to reduce the bill of materials. It also depends on the speed with which operators ramp up volumes. ip.access is working very closely with operators to ensure we can meet their price expectations, and we welcome Mr Sarin's comments...

    "Operators are beginning to speak publicly about their plans to deploy femtocells, which is providing extra momentum for our industry to accelerate the process towards cost reduction.” (See Is AT&T Putting Out Femto Feelers?, FT Preps Femtocell RFP, and Softbank Trials Femtocell.)

    But other vendors, and Brown himself, are skeptical such a low price can be achieved. The analyst believes "a more realistic, yet still aggressive, target is $200 to $300 per device by the end of 2008," considering the likely costs associated with the various components each unit will need.