When engineers propose small cell or femtocell solutions to the business, the technical thinking is typically spot-on, but the business impact often doesn’t resonate with the investment board. This isn’t because the technology is flawed, but because the presentation naturally focuses on the technical solution rather than framing the underlying business problem first.
In this post, I want to walk through the typical technical approach, the business elements that often get less emphasis, and how a complementary business perspective can make the difference between a rejected proposal and one with a compelling business case that unlocks funding.
I’ve created small cell (femtocell/picocell) business cases in the real world and used them to model revenues, churn reduction estimates, and create commercial logic that gets investor buy-in. I’m now using these real examples in my business case training because I’ve seen how brilliant technical minds can strengthen their proposals by adding structured business rationale alongside their technical expertise. Let’s break it down.
The Technical Focus (And What Complements It)
When presenting small cell solutions, the technical focus naturally centers on network-level improvements:
- Fixing coverage gaps
- Boosting signal strength indoors
- Increasing capacity and bandwidth
- Offloading traffic from the macro network
These are all technically sound priorities. A small cell delivers real value: it offloads the macro network, adds dedicated capacity, and improves the overall user experience.
However, while the technical foundation is solid, these benefits don’t speak the investment committee’s language. Business stakeholders need to understand not just that your solution improves network coverage and capacity, but why that improvement creates measurable business value. This translation step is where the gap typically occurs.
Why “Better Coverage” Needs Business Context
Let’s look at this practically. You can demonstrate that your solution improves indoor coverage and keeps users off the congested macro layer. But that technical improvement doesn’t justify the investment unless you connect it to financial outcomes that matter to the business: customer retention and revenue protection.
Here’s a concrete example: a customer experiences poor signal quality inside their home. Every time they want to make a call or use mobile data, they need to step outside. It’s not a great experience. Install a femtocell, and they suddenly have full bars and even usable mobile data.
From a user perspective, that’s transformative. But what does it mean for the business?
Retention: That customer was ready to churn. Keeping them protects subscriber numbers and market share.
Revenue Protection: Losing that customer means losing their monthly revenue contribution permanently.
Direct Revenue (in some markets): Customers might pay for the device or upgrade to a premium plan, especially in remote areas.
Brand Protection: You’re safeguarding brand reputation in remote regions where most operators struggle with coverage.
Here’s the key insight: without linking technical improvements to these business metrics, you’re presenting network health improvements without quantifying their business impact. Unless your proposal is part of a pre-approved programme, technical benefits without supporting financial data rarely secure investment approval.
Adding the Business Layer to Technical Excellence
For engineers looking to strengthen their proposals with business context, the key is expanding the question set beyond technical specifications:
- What specific business problem are we solving, and what’s its financial impact?
- Are we improving profitability through cost savings or driving revenue growth?
- Are we protecting existing revenue streams or creating new ones?
- What’s the churn rate in the target region for this solution?
- How do alternative solutions compare financially to this approach?
- Are there strategic opportunities, such as B2B partnerships with shopping malls, office buildings, or transport hubs?
This expanded perspective transforms your pitch from “here’s how we optimise the network” to “here’s how we create measurable business value.” These questions help you connect technical solutions to specific financial metrics: churn rates, ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), direct and indirect revenues, OPEX/CAPEX, and EBITDA impact.
From Defence to Offence: Commercial Use Cases for Small Cells
Small cells aren’t just a fallback to fix coverage. They can be strategic assets when used right.
Churn mitigation: Target areas with high churn to address the coverage pain point.
Revenue/ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) protection: If you lose a customer, you lose their entire monthly contribution. If a small cell keeps them, you’ve secured recurring revenue.
Direct monetisation: In some markets, users will pay for better indoor coverage, especially when all other operators fail to deliver.
B2B partnerships: Shopping malls, office buildings, concerts, sport event venues etc. have high traffic and complex indoor/outdoor environments. You can offer tailored small cell coverage as a commercial solution. Here you can think broadly and consider how these B2B customers benefit from connected customers, thanks to small cells.
Brand protection: Poor indoor coverage ruins customer perception. A proactive small cell strategy can protect your Net Promoter Score and customer trust.
Why I Use Femtocell in My Business Case Training
In my Business Case Builder and Business Case Fundamentals courses, I use a femtocell/picocell case study for a reason. It’s based on actual commercial work I did, including a revenue-share model between a vendor and an operator. The course dives into:
- How to structure a business case from scratch using Excel
- The difference between product and project business cases and how they work together
- How to justify direct and indirect revenues, costs, and investment decisions
- How to calculate and explain key financial metrics: NPV, IRR, payback, EBITDA, and more
- How to present your case to Finance, VPs, and decision-makers without getting lost in the numbers
- How to avoid common mistakes that derail credibility in governance meetings
Most training courses generally use simpler examples to help you grasp the concept, which is great. But when you step into your own job, especially in the high-tech industry where things are complex, the simple examples don’t directly apply and you end up learning on the job the hard way, instead of being able to get direct benefit from the course and transfer that skill directly to your job. Since I’ve been there and learned the hard way, I used this small cell business example in my course so you have something more relatable and transferable.
In the training, we walk through how real telecom product cases work across tech, finance, sales, and project delivery. You see the actual assumptions, the Excel build, the stakeholder logic. It’s a practical walkthrough, not a theory lesson.
One Piece of Advice for Engineers
If you’re an engineer trying to get your idea funded, here’s my advice:
Start from the business problem, not the solution.
Your technical idea might be brilliant. But if it isn’t tied to a clear commercial opportunity, it may get lost in the technical noise. Investors, governance boards, and execs don’t buy technology. They buy value.
Build your business case around:
- A real, validated customer problem
- A revenue and cost model grounded in logic and team input
- Clear alignment between problem, solution, and commercial value
And above all, make sure your assumptions are credible. Talk to sales. Validate volumes. Align with finance. If your numbers don’t have a source, make sure to find credible references because you need to be able to back up your assumptions.
Final Word
Small cells are a technical solution. But when pitched right, they can become a commercial lever.
The difference is in how you frame it.
If you’re a product engineer or technical lead who wants to learn how to build credible business cases and present them with authority, that’s exactly what my training is built for to teach you the skill in a few hours.
Learn the full framework, build your own Excel model, and understand how commercial justification really works.
👉 Check out the Business Case Builder and Business Case Fundamentals courses on Commsbrief.
