Small Cells Still Growing Faster Than Macro RAN in 1Q22

Small Cells Still Growing Faster Than Macro RAN in 1Q22
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The demand for small cells remains strong, according to Dell’Oro Group. Preliminary findings suggest small cell radio access network (RAN) revenues advanced 15 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2022, growing at a faster pace than the broader small cell plus macro RAN market.

“The fact that small cell investments are still advancing at a rapid pace even as the operators are intensifying their 5G macro rollout efforts show that small cells are now an essential part of the broader RAN toolkit,“ said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Helping to explain this output acceleration is the shift towards 5G and the shrinking gap between macro and small cell deployments, especially with upper mid-band 5G,“ continued Pongratz.

The top 5 suppliers in the quarter were Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung. Nearly all the small cell growth is driven by public 5G, while small cell LTE revenues declined in the quarter and private 5G small cell investments are still negligible. Global small cell RAN revenues remain on track to surpass $5 billion in 2022.