Small Cell Forum (SCF) has published its Market Forecast Report 2025, revealing that the small cell market is entering a new phase of resilient growth and technology maturity. This year’s baseline forecast reflects a strong outlook with expected small cell deployment rising to a 9.4% CAGR through 2030, up from 8.6% in last year’s report.
Based on detailed analysis and survey data from 96 Mobile Network Operator (MNO) and service provider organizations worldwide, the report forecasts that small cell deployments will result in 61 million cumulative unit shipments and an installed base of 54.4 million radio units. Annual revenues to vendors and integrators are projected to reach USD 4.23 billion by the end of the decade.
Prabhakar Chitrapu, Chair of SCF, commented on the findings: “Despite continued economic pressures, the small cell industry has shown strong adaptability – driven by enterprise demand, deployment innovation and the convergence of network and IT infrastructure. This forecast highlights the importance of collaboration across all types of deployers and solution providers to ensure future-ready connectivity.”
Enterprise and neutral host deployments drive market momentum
The report confirms that enterprise indoor environments will continue to dominate small cell deployment, accounting for 60% of all rollouts in 2023–2024, and 54% by 2030. Growth is being driven by a wide variety of enterprise use cases, from advanced automation and industrial IoT to high-capacity retail and public-sector connectivity.
To meet this demand at scale, neutral host models are playing a growing role that complements traditional operator-led deployment. The share of enterprise small cells deployed and operated by neutral hosts is expected to double from 14% to 28% by 2030, making it the fastest-growing business model in the sector. Neutral host adoption in public networks is also rising, forecast to reach 27% of new deployments by 2030, up from 8% in 2023. With small cells increasingly being drivers for the deployment rates of 5G, the report identifies that closing existing gaps between Standards development and regulators becomes more important than ever. Considerable work is still required to turn specifications into complete solutions that are fully aligned with the needs of customers and provides a common blueprint for deployers.
Simon Fletcher, Chief Strategy Officer of SCF, added: “Neutral host infrastructure enables more flexible, cost-effective and sustainable deployment benefiting mobile operators, enterprises, vendors and the wider ecosystem. SCF’s work on blueprints, specifications and cross-industry frameworks is helping make shared infrastructure commercially viable and technically scalable.”
5G SA, Edge Compute and mmWave fuel innovation
The forecast identifies several key technology trends:
- 5G Standalone (SA) small cells will grow rapidly, with a forecast CAGR of 56% during the period.
- Edge integration is accelerating, with 66% of enterprise small cells expected to be co-located with edge compute by 2030 — enabling new low-latency and AI-enhanced services.
- Millimetre wave (FR2) spectrum is becoming more critical in dense environments. By 2030, 43% of new small cells will be deployed in FR2 bands, with a CAGR of nearly 37%.
Together, these developments are helping unlock new business models and monetization paths for a wider range of deployers — including operators, infrastructure providers, cloud platforms and vertical-specific integrators.
SCF and the path to future networks
SCF continues to coordinate ecosystem-wide efforts to reduce complexity and support scalable deployment. Its current workstreams include:
- Technical and commercial blueprints for in-building and neutral host models
- Specifications for open interfaces and shared infrastructure (e.g. FAPI, nFAPI, and NTN technical specifications)
- Deployment tools and frameworks that bridge gaps between standards and real-world needs
- Regulation and policy work aimed at speeding deployment and easing planning issues
While 6G is still several years away, the report notes that many of its anticipated enablers (such as AI-native networks, dense small cell architecture, and edge/cloud convergence) are already being shaped by innovations led by SCF and its members today.
“By aligning technology choices with real deployment requirements, SCF is helping the ecosystem prepare for what’s next — not just for 5G-Advanced, but also for the early phases of 6G,” added Fletcher.
The SCF Market Forecast Report 2025 is available now here. SCF members will be able to access the full market data figures and an accompanying market survey report that explains the data points.
There is also a free webinar with Caroline Gabriel, the author of the report and Simon Fletcher, discussing the report in more detail, with the opportunity to ask questions about the data on 2 October, at 16.00 UK time, available to members and non-members. Register here.
To find out more about the SCF work program and how you can join visit www.smallcellforum.org