5G small cell deployments will likely get a boost

Some experts anticipate that US mobile operators will spend more on their small cell deployments in the coming months and use the technology to fill in coverage gaps and boost capacity in their 5G networks. Joe Madden, founder and lead analyst at Mobile Experts predicts that now that operators have deployed much of their 5G macro network, they will turn their attention to small cells and use the technology to fill in coverage gaps, solve capacity issues and provide in-building coverage. Although small cell deployments didn’t get a lot of attention in 2022, industry trade group CTIA reported in its 2023 annual survey, released in July 2023, that small cell deployments increased 13% in 2022 as compared to 2021. CTIA said that as of the end of 2022 there were 142,000 small cells deployed across the country compared to 125,000 at the end of 2021. However, the Small Cell Forum noted that it expects North America to have the slowest small cell growth compared to other regions like Latin America and Africa. The forum said that the reason North America will be slower is that it believes this market deployed more small cells earlier than other regions so its growth will not be as extreme.