U.S. cell towers and small cells: By the numbers

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) recently published perhaps the most definitive look at the wireless infrastructure landscape in the US, showing 142,100 cell towers and 452,200 outdoor small cell nodes across the country at the end of last year.

Because WIA’s report segments infrastructure by type, it offers a clearer picture of the 5G marketplace than recent findings from CTIA, the primary trade association for the US wireless industry. CTIA, which mainly represents the big 5G network operators like AT&T and Verizon, counted a total of 419,000 cell sites across the US at the end of 2021. WIA primarily represents the nation’s big cell tower owners like American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications.

The WIA’s findings are also important to ongoing work among regulators, equipment vendors, entrepreneurs and others to make it easier and cheaper for network operators to build more 5G transmission sites. Several industry players are predicting that demand for small cells will increase significantly starting later this year.

However, there are plenty of caveats and disclaimers in the WIA’s latest figures. That isn’t surprising given the increasing complexity of wireless networks and the wide variety of types and locations of 5G transmission sites.

The macro view

The WIA’s new report, prepared by research and consulting firm iGR, defined cell towers as free-standing structures over 50 feet in height. The firm added that its cell tower count of 142,100 included only towers that support cellular networks and did not include towers deployed exclusively for municipalities or other users.

iGR also differentiated between cell towers and macrocell sites. The firm counted 209,500 macrocell sites in the US at the end of 2022 and defined macrocells as sites covering large geographic regions that are typically mounted on cell towers. However, a smaller number of macrocell sites sit atop rooftops or other structures. Thus, cell towers often host macrocell sites, but macrocells do not necessarily require cell towers.

Finally, iGR counted 452,200 outdoor small-cell nodes and 747,400 indoor small-cell nodes. Importantly, the firm noted that multiple outdoor nodes are usually deployed on a single small-cell pole. Such sites typically transmit communications in spectrum bands including mmWave, C-band and 3.5GHz CBRS.

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