Small cells continue to be a big deal in the US. Indeed, some players in the market expect the US to eventually support up to 1 million small cells, which would be a dramatic increase from the roughly 400,000 cell sites (of all sizes) that are up and running today.
However, growth in the small cell sector continues to trickle out in fits and starts, and an explosion in deployments has never really materialized. At least, not yet.
"The Big Three carriers [Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile] being focusing on other projects or deployment models has weighed on small cell bookings, and will likely continue to weigh on bookings," wrote the financial analysts at MoffettNathanson in a recent note to investors. "Bookings" refer to the number of orders for small cells that operators have placed.