Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Small Cell Equipment market size and forecast report, which tracks 3G microcells, picocells, and metrocells and LTE mini eNodeBs and metrocells.

SMALL CELL MARKET HIGHLIGHTS:
.    As mobile operators have to approach a “critical mass” of data traffic before small cells even become a consideration, it is the developed countries (Japan, South Korea, the UK and US) that are driving early adoption
.    642,000 small cell units shipped in 2013, a 143% spike from 2012; over half of these units are of the 3G variety
.    However, starting this year, 4G metrocells will close the gap with 3G, becoming the main growth engine
.    Backhaul is no longer a major inhibitor to small cell deployment, but it will remain an issue for some mobile operators due to the locations in which they operate
.    5G is coming, fully loaded with small cells: NTT DOCOMO in Japan plans to have 5G commercially available in 2020, in time for the Tokyo Olympics

ANALYST NOTES:
“As we anticipated, the great small cell ramp did not happen in 2013 as many in the industry had hoped. Testing activity remained solid, but actual deployments were modest. Small cell revenue was just $771 million last year, a sharp contrast to the $24 billion 2G/3G RAN market,” reports Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.

Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics and co-author of the report, adds: “Nevertheless, the need to enhance existing saturated macrocellular networks that are struggling to maintain a decent mobile broadband experience, as well as to add capacity to existing LTE networks, is bringing some fuel to our forecast and, consequently, we expect the small cell market to grow 65% by year’s end, when it will reach $1.3 billion.”

ABOUT INFONETICS’ SMALL CELL REPORT:
Infonetics’ biannual small cell report provides worldwide and regional market size, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for 3G microcells, picocells, and metrocells and LTE mini eNodeB and metrocells. The report also includes a small cell strategies tracker. Vendors tracked: Airspan, Airvana, Alcatel-Lucent, Argela, Contela, Ericsson, Huawei, ip.access, Juni, NEC, NSN, Samsung, SK Telesys, SpiderCloud, Ubiquisys, ZTE, and others.

To buy the report, contact Infonetics at:

http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

In late March 2014, ABI Research’s report on Outdoor Small Cells forecast a healthy 2014 growth in equipment revenue at a year-on-year rate of 33% to $1.8 billion. This growth comes thanks to operators like AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Telefonica, Softbank, SK Telecom, and Sprint driving shipments of both outdoor and Metrocell deployments.

“As mobile network operators implement small cell outdoor networks, several success factors emerge as critical for a successful deployment,” says Nick Marshall, principal analyst at ABI Research. “We see multiple solutions for backhaul, power, permitting, and siting employed by the operator community throughout the rest of 2014 and which will increase small cell momentum in 2015.”

In 2014, 4G small cells are the fastest growing small cell type in the market driven by venue and dense urban deployments. ABI Research forecasts the number of LTE small cells to grow by 2X in 2014 and by a similar factor each year through 2019 where the value of LTE small cells will reach more than half of a $10 billion equipment market.

https://www.abiresearch.com/press/small-cells-market-healthy-as-2014-dep…

Meanwhile, Research and Markets forecast the Global Wi-Fi-Enabled Small Cell market to grow at a CAGR of 185 percent over the period 2013-2018. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing densification of the subscribers’ base. The Global Wi-Fi-Enabled Small Cell market has also been witnessing the increasing adoption of Hotspot 2.0 standard. However, the interference issues could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

The report, the Global Wi-Fi-Enabled Small Cell Market 2014-2018, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, and the APAC and EMEA regions; it also covers the Global Wi-Fi-Enabled Small Cell market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

The key purpose of all non-macrocell solutions in a telecom network is to address the inexorable demand for coverage and capacity. Such solutions include small cells, Wi-Fi, DAS, and the emerging CRAN. While the first three solutions have been in the market for a while, the CRAN is a relatively new architecture which, like DAS, concentrates the processing of the RAN of a mobile network in one or more centralized network nodes. 

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/drnpw3/global

On April 1, 2014, Mobile Experts released a 94-page market study today, which provides detailed analysis of Small Cells and Low Power Base Stations.  In this market study, deep insights are revealed to illustrate how the mobile infrastructure market is changing to address a need for concentrated mobile traffic in multiple scenarios.

Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts explained, “During 2013, the deployment of 200,000 small cells in Asia has validated the accuracy of our forecasting over the past five years.  This year, we’ve added revenue analysis and more quantitative ‘trigger points’ into our forecast based on real-world examples in Korea.”

The 94-page market study includes analysis on multiple types of Small Cells, and also for small base stations (often called microcells or picocells) which utilize a traditional RAN architecture.    In addition, the study includes detailed analysis of Low Power Remote Radio Head applications, which are expected to enable Cloud RAN (C-RAN) functionality in the indoor environment.

http://mobile-experts.net/manuals/mexp-smallcell-14%20toc.pdf