Service provider WiFi and evolved small cells to grow seven-fold through 2017

USA: According to a newly published forecast report by Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries, public access small cell equipment comprising service provider WiFi (SP WiFi), and evolved WCDMA/LTE and multi-mode WCDMA/LTE/WiFi small cell radios, will drive future growth in the market.

"If we look at all the various small cell markets including residential, enterprise, and public access small cells, we expect the public access market to generate the most rapid growth in the next five years," said Stefan Pongratz, senior analyst with Dell'Oro Group. "Even though significant challenges remain for operators to move to large scale small cell deployments in the licensed spectrum, there are now clear indicators that a number of early adopters are looking to shift some CAPEX from outdoor population coverage to indoor coverage and cell edge performance," continued Pongratz.

Other highlights from the report include:

* An assessment of the backhaul vendor landscape, vendor solutions, and the various backhaul technologies that will be used at different small cell sites, revealing that more than sixty percent of small cell sites using external backhaul will rely on Line of Sight (LOS) and Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) microwave by 2017

* Detailed analysis of unlicensed small cells showing that SP WiFi will account for approximately 85 percent of all small cell radio shipments in 2017.