Small Cells to Grow Big at a CAGR of 48%, Operators Expected to Intensify Rollouts

​The outdoor small cells market is expected to growth at a CAGR of 48% from now to 2019, said ABI Research's latest forecast. According to ABI Research, the small cell market is geared towards higher deployment in 2015 with major solution providers such as Nokia Networks, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent bringing more advanced solutions to the market place.

Small cells, specifically the 4G LTE small cells will be in huge demand as service providers increase their 4G LTE coverage in densely populated places and also to provide expanded coverage in places and venues where demand for data services is high. According to ABI Research, major telecommunications giants such as AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Telefonica, Softbank, SK Telecom, and Sprint are expected to intensify the rollout of their small cells deployments in response to the increasing demand for data in urban areas.

ABI Research said in its statement that the small cells segment has withstood challenges of backhaul, power, permitting, and siting and is now seeing the rollout of Small Cells as a Service (SCaaS) from OEMs such as Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Networks, and Ericsson and infrastructure owners such as Towerstream, Crown Castle, Cloudberry Mobile, and Virgin Media Business. ABI Research added that the biggest market for small cells is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region given its size and given the rapid growth of 4G LTE networks in South Korea and Japan and the expected growth in China and India in coming years.