Small cell market to reach $2.7 Billion by 2017, as per Infonetics

Infonetics Research estimates the global small cell market to grow from a very small base now to $2.7 billion by 2017. Small Cell Equipment includes 3G microcells, picocells, and public access femtocells and 4G LTE mini eNodeBs and public access femtocells. “2013 is shaping up as a kick-off year for small cells, driven by 4G small cells deployed for capacity upgrades,” expects Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research. “AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless in the U.S., Vodafone in Europe, LG U+ in South Korea, and NTT DOCOMO in Japan have all announced major small cell plans, driven by the need to enhance the capacity of saturated macrocellular networks as they seek to deliver denser, higher-capacity coverage to tech-savvy populations in urban areas.” Co-author of the report, Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and carrier WiFi at Infonetics, adds: “As operators formulate their plans for small cell rollouts, one of the key decisions will be how tightly to integrate Wi-Fi. Last year, we saw clear indications that picocells would have integrated Wi-Fi, and this has indeed materialized. Both technologies have similar range and power requirements, which may provide an advantage for picocells over microcells, as the dense cell option could have its own in-built offload option.” Other points shared by In...