Latest report for Small Cell Forum finds more than 10 million small cells deployed
London UK, 18 March 2015. More than ten million small cells have now been shipped to operators around the globe, according to the latest market report commissioned by the Small Cell Forum. Carried out by Mobile Experts, the report shows how small cells are now becoming an integral part of operator strategies, with deployments set to accelerate in the next 12 months.
The report, available now to download from scf.io, looked at total deployments of small cells to date alongside deployment figures by region and use case. Over 75 operators worldwide are now using small cells, with 17,000 deployed in rural and remote applications.
“This significant milestone shows how small cells are fast becoming key components in networks with over ten million units now in the market,” said Alan Law, Chair of Small Cell Forum. “This is being backed up by what we saw recently at Mobile World Congress with an incredible variety of announcements from operators, vendors and partners all pointing to a maturing market for a really exciting technology.”
“With careful cross-checking of industry sources, we’ve been able to verify that 10.2million small cells have now been shipped globally, with over ten million now deployed,” said Joe Madden, Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts. “The majority of these to date have been deployed in residential scenarios, but we have also seen a significant step upward in the enterprise and urban sectors. Our longstanding prediction that non-residential small cells will ramp up in 2015 is becoming a reality, as capacity and indoor coverage are now critical for operators.”
At Mobile World Congress the Small Cell Forum announced Release Five: Rural and Remote, completing the set of use cases and helping operators to realise an additional market opportunity worth $163billion. From the business case through to backhaul and case studies, the full suite of information is available to download from scf.io.
About the Small Cell Forum (SCF)
Small Cell Forum works to accelerate small cell adoption to change the shape of mobile networks and maximize the potential of mobile services.
We are not a standards organization but partner with organizations that inform and determine standards development. We are a carrier-led organization. This means our operator members establish requirements that drive the activities and outputs of our technical groups.
Our track record speaks for itself: we have driven the standardization of key elements of small cell technology including Iuh,FAPI/SCAPI, SON, the small cell services API, and the enhancement of the X2 interface.
At the time of writing, Small Cell Forum has more than 140 members, including 68 operators representing more than 3 billion mobile subscribers – 46 per cent of the global total – as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative start-ups.
Small Cell Forum Release Program
The Small Cell Forum Release Program has now established business cases and market drivers for all the main use cases, clarifying market needs and addressing barriers to deployment for residential, enterprise and urban small cells.
Small Cell Forum Release website can be found here: www.scf.io
Media contacts
Darren Willsher/Chris King
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