By Michelle Choi, an insider at Lease Advisors
The telecom industry continues to face mounting pressures as the demand for data increases. Projections from Ericsson estimate that by the end of the decade, 70% of people will have smartphones and 90% of the global population will require mobile broadband network coverage. Mobile operators have opportunities to accommodate the increasing trend of high-bandwidth applications and services via infrastructure improvements and new technologies. With the intention to strengthen and expand indoor and outdoor coverage, and enhance data capacity, wireless phone companies are turning to small cells, particularly in urban areas where data traffic is concentrated.
Small cells, including femtocells, picocells, and microcells, are low-powered radio access nodes that operate in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum which enable Wi-Fi-type capabilities to offload data traffic. Placed on top of or attached to existing buildings, lamp posts, or utility poles, small cells have a range of coverage that spans anywhere from 30 feet to a mile. They are small in comparison to mobile macrocells, or cell towers, which have a significantly larger coverage area; most are roughly the size of a suitcase. The Small Cell Forum demonstrated that placing four small cells within a macrocell delivered offload of 50% and improved macro performance by 315%. Kevin Smithen, an analyst at Macquarie Capital, stated that “small cells will be a central pillar of 4G network architecture for Verizon and Sprint in the second half of 2015 and especially 2016 and for T-Mobile and AT&T moving forward.” Clearly, small cells are a powerful emerging means by which carriers may service mobile device users.
Roger Etner, an analyst at Recon Analytics, said, “carriers are going with small cells because they need to upgrade capacity in a particular spot, like an office building, so instead of building a larger, more expensive tower site, they prefer to do a more topical solution.” What are the implications of this kind of a change on cell towers? The increasing use of small cells may mean that wireless operators would need fewer towers and opt for small cells, but they are a complement rather than a replacement.
Reader Interactions