Small cell strategies and vendor leadership

IHS Markit service provider survey

Small cells used by nearly all service providers

Mobile operators continue to take small cells into their networks, with only 9 pecent having none – even these plan to do so by the end of 2017. The major trend is augmenting macro cells with small cells to give a more balanced traffic load. Indoor and outdoor cells are gaining momentum.

Other significant findings of the report include:

  • In-building small cell deployments will rise more than six times by 2021
  • Outdoor small cell deployments will grow ten times by 2021
  • Optimization of high data use areas is a main driver of small cell deployments
  • Nokia remains the top small cell provider and has the largest installed base