US cell towers and small cells: By the numbers

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) recently published perhaps the most definitive look at the wireless infrastructure landscape in the US, showing 142,100 cell towers and 452,200 outdoor small cell nodes across the country at the end of 2022. Because WIA's report segments infrastructure by type, it offers a clearer picture of the 5G marketplace than recent findings from CTIA, the primary trade association for the US wireless industry. CTIA counted a total of 419,000 cell sites across the US at the end of 2021. WIA primarily represents the nation's big cell tower owners like American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications. The WIA's findings are also important to ongoing work among regulators, equipment vendors, entrepreneurs, and others to make it easier and cheaper for network operators to build more 5G transmission sites. Several industry players are predicting that demand for small cells will increase significantly starting later in 2023. The WIA's new report highlights the following:

• Research and consulting firm iGR, defined cell towers as free-standing structures over 50 feet in height. The firm added that its cell tower count of 142,100 included only towers that support cellular networks and did not include towers deployed exclusively for municipalities or other users. 
• iGR also differentiated between cell towers and macro-cell sites. The firm counted 209,500 macro-cell sites in the US at the end of 2022 and defined macro-cells as sites covering large geographic regions that are typically mounted on cell towers.
• Finally, iGR counted 452,200 outdoor small-cell nodes and 747,400 indoor small-cell nodes. Importantly, the firm noted that multiple outdoor nodes are usually deployed on a single small-cell pole. Such sites typically transmit communications in spectrum bands including mmWave, C-band, and 3.5GHz CBRS.
• "Mainly due to the pandemic and the resulting changes in mobile bandwidth demand, the deployment of small cells from 2020-2022 lagged the original forecasts," according to the WIA report. "The market is starting to accelerate, and more outdoor small cell deployments are expected in 2023 and beyond. As a result, the number of outdoor small cells is expected to rise in the next few years."
• T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are all deep into spending billions of dollars to upgrade their 5G networks with mid-band spectrum. But all the carriers have begun hinting that their network spending will slow starting in 2024.
• As operators finish their mid-band 5G buildouts, many observers expect them to shift spending from cell towers to small cells. That's because early spending on 5G centered on cell towers that could cover wide geographic areas. Though, operators will likely look to reinforce their networks with additional capacity. And that's where small cells shine. However, it's unclear when small-cell spending might accelerate.