There will be 13 million outdoor 5G small cell deployments by 2027 to address worldwide 5G mobile data traffic that will reach 1676 Exabytes in 2026, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 63 percent, ABI Research said.

5G small cell deployments will be overtaking 4G in 2028 because Massive MIMO (mMIMO) macro cells may not fulfill 5G capacity demands. Mobile network operators promise their subscribers that 5G will provide higher capacity, faster speed, higher energy efficiency, lower RAN latency, and create massive connectivity.

“5G small cells complement macro cells, boosting network capacity and extending coverage in dense areas where signals are weak or unavailable. They also allow network operators to derive more value from their existing spectrums by exploiting them more efficiently,” said Fei Liu, 5G & Mobile Network Infrastructure Industry Analyst at ABI Research.

“Compared to the previous generation small cells, 5G small cells face more challenges in design and performance. 5G small cells need to be smaller and lighter while supporting larger bandwidths such as 100MHz and 200MHz.”

In the consumer market, mobile network operators in most countries focus on macro cell deployment for 5G. The data traffic growth rate determines the timing and extent of the network capacity challenge. Mass 5G small cell deployments will occur around 2025 when network capacity on the C-band should run out without additional spectrum or small cell densification. Enterprises and industry verticals are already deploying 5G small cells for their private networks.

5G small cells make use of the backhaul established for macro cells, so mobile network operators should start deploying 5G small cells at locations with backhaul already established. 5G small cells can co-exist with macro cells, and self-organizing networks help minimize risks from interferences between cells. Alternatively, mobile network operators should deploy different frequency bands on small and macro cells.