Small Cell Backhaul Market

Global Small Cell Backhaul Market Size & Growth (2023 – 2028)

The global Small Cell Backhaul Market was at $685.7 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $4.24 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.6% during the forecast period.

Small Cell Backhaul is a set of equipment and services utilized to build high-capacity communication network infrastructures, such as 3G and 4G / LTE. This solution offers advantages such as additional capacity as well as wide coverage, support for increased data traffic without loss of calls and high-speed data connections. Small cell backhaul helps network operators manage many factors such as quality of service, coverage, scalability, capacity, and security. They are also compatible with existing communication networks to adapt to business models and changing customer needs to enable high speed data services. Small cell backhaul supports voice and data communication services around the world, and backhaul solutions will ensure efficient operation of network communication systems. As mobile operators plan to deploy small cells to complement existing micro-cell network infrastructure to improve coverage and capacity, they are strategically looking for small cell backhaul solutions. While operators look forward to leveraging customized and cost-effective solutions, small cell backhaul solution providers design and develop agile solutions with strong capabilities to extend support for large-scale deployments and deliver a solution to end-to-end to mobile operators. The players in the ecosystem consolidate their position in a highly competitive market through technological mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, to build good solutions for all requirements and obtain better visibility in the market.

Recent Developments 

• May 2020, Airtel and Sercomm launched the small virtualized TDD cell.
• On September 14, 2018, T-Mobile this week offered further proof that the company is preparing its network for the launch of 5G network services. Specifically, the country's third-largest wireless network operator announced an expanding deal with Crown Castle to add more small cells to its network, also claiming it now has a fiber-optic link. across the country to support 5G.

Market Growth

The emergence of small cell 4G/LTE solutions is fueling the growth of millimeter waves, sub-6 GHz links and microwaves in urban, suburban and metropolitan areas. This in turn is supposed to boost the global small cell backhaul market. In addition, the use of small 4G / LTE cells is increasing at a faster rate and is taking control of all major markets by removing the 3G network, which in turn may boost the worldwide market for years to come. Network operators have adopted backhaul solutions to balance growing network congestion, access technologies, speed demands and data growth. In addition, the penetration of mobile devices and the rapid adoption of small devices, such as laptops, tablets and other portable devices, may further boost the global small cell backhaul market in the near future.

Market Drivers 

Changing user behaviour and evolving capacity along with inclusion of QoE attributes in QoS are driving the growth of the small cell link market. While adoption of these solutions is gradual, due to concerns about TCO, location of small cell deployment, trained workforce, and spectrum availability, these solutions are destined for worldwide acceptance whole. The convenience of the small form factor, street-level coverage, and higher capacity provisioning provided by small cell technology solutions is expected to drive increased demand for these solutions. To serve an audience with different solution requirements, solution providers and their industry partners understand the small cell deployment scenarios to develop a range of solutions to suit all requirements spanning network topology and architecture, coverage and capacity, cost and energy consumption.

Market Restraints

Providing high quality connectivity between the small cell BSs and the core network is a challenge and may require significant planning efforts, as various existing backhaul solutions face different challenges.

COVID – 19 Impact on Global Small Cell Backhaul Market

Since the coronavirus outbreak in December 2019, the disease has spread to nearly 120 countries around the globe and the WHO has declared it a public health emergency. The global impacts of coronavirus disease are already starting to be felt and will significantly affect the small cell removal market in 2020.

GLOBAL SMALL CELL BACKHAUL MARKET REPORT COVERAGE:

Market Segmentation

Global Small Cell Backhaul Market - By Access Technology Generation:

• 2G
• 3G
• 4G/LTE

Solutions such as small cell backhaul improve spectrum utilization and deliver high data throughput, enriching user experience. The scenario of global adoption of small cell backhaul solutions by carriers to scale their networks to 3G, 4G / LTE is an indication of their optimistic growth going forward. They are well marketed by network infrastructure providers, system integrators and novices who plan to excel with enhanced capacity, coverage and data rates to leverage new revenue streams.

Global Small Cell Backhaul Market - By Transmission Medium:

• Wired
• Wireless

Global Small Cell Backhaul Market - By Technology:

• Copper
• Fiber
• Millimeter wave
• Microwave
• Sub-6 GHz

Thanks to innovations in communication technology, these solutions have become viable and cost effective to implement through sophisticated radio frequency (RF) engineering, network planning and reduced installation time. With consumers increasingly dependent on mobile data services, network infrastructure providers and operators have aligned their resources to improve their network capacity and coverage, and thereby retain customers.

Global Small Cell Backhaul Market - By Services:

• Network services
• Integration services
• Professional services

Growing adoption of small cell backhaul solutions around the world by network operators to efficiently and effectively respond to increasing data traffic and growing demand for data services. Adoption of these solutions is growing, with operators focusing on improving the quality of experience, extended coverage and capacity issues. These solutions are supposed to gain traction with customer selection criteria aligned with better data performance, consistent coverage and seamless connectivity prompting operators to strengthen their existing network.

Regional Analysis

North America is foreseen to account for a significant share of the global small cell backhaul market during the forecast period. According to the Small Cell Forum, non-residential small cell installations in the region will account for about 15.4% of small cell installations worldwide in 2019. By 2021, businesses in North America are estimated to install 562,000 small cells representing 13.5% of global small non-residential cell installations.

Asia-Pacific holds the largest share in the global small cell backhaul market. This is mainly due to the increase in shipments of small cells in recent years. The rise of remote and rural deployments, coupled with strong indoor small cell activity in the urban and corporate segments, is primarily driving the growth of small cells in the area. This will become increasingly critical for wireless strategies as new spectrum and new revenue models drive densification. However, factors such as lack of uniform processes and random deployment of small cells may affect the market growth.

Latin America will experience a substantial growth rate in the global small cell backhaul market through 2024. With the developed countries able to generate higher revenues and rapid growth in the smartphone industry, the region needs to work with an average revenue per user $ 15 (ARPU). The growing penetration of cable broadband in this region has spurred the growth of small cell adoption. This results in many people using the internet for the first time on a smartphone. The bustling streets of Brazil indicate its fast growing economy due to the huge growth in multiple aspects of telecommunications.

Europe will continue to contribute significantly to the revenue generation for the global small cell backhaul market until 2025. According to "Rethink Technology Research", the urgency requirement and the fragmented regulation of mobile network operators Europeans in the region are currently under behind North America and Asia-Pacific in the densification of mobile networks. This may hamper the growth of the small cell backhaul market. As a result, European networks will not be ready for some key 5G use cases, for example, industrial IoT and smart cities.

Leading Company

DragonWave-X is a leading supplier of high capacity microwave packet solutions that power next generation IP networks.

Key Players

Some of the key players operating in the global small cell backhaul market include DragonWave-X, Alcatel-Lucent, Siklu, Ceragon, and Fastback/Sub10. Other major players in the global market are Ericsson, CCS, NEC, and Aviat.