In the last decade, internet usage has gone up over 200% and and is expected to more than double through 2025. This factor has led us to enter into the era of 5G network. The traditional wireless infrastructure approach to 5G has certain limitations. Thats’ where small cell power amplifier comes in to enhance the signal strength and data transmission rate for 5G network connection by surging the amount of traffic that can be handled in an area while also increasing speed.
Small cell power amplifiers aren’t a new technology. Infact, they have been used in spectrums such as 3G & 4G networks. Small cells, also known as femtocells, have played an increasingly important role in wireless networks since their introduction more than a decade ago. Small cells are generally classified by their coverage range – femtocells, picocells, microcells, and macrocells. Femtocells are the smallest of the small cells and are best for usage in homes and small offices. Picocells are used for large office buildings, hotels office buildings, and parks. Microcells, also called metrocells, are used for light poles, shopping centres, transportation hubs, city blocks, stadiums, and top buildings in dense urban areas. Macrocells, on the other hand, are used in suburban, city, and rural areas.
According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the global small cell power amplifier market size is anticipated to reach $6.0 billion with a considerable CAGR from 2017 to 2023. The Asia-Pacific region dominated the market with its highest market share in 2016, owing to the presence of key market players in the emerging economies like China, Japan, India, and others. LAMEA, at the same time, witnessed the fastest growth rate during the forecasted period.
Numerous factors such as growth in number of mobile users, rise in demand for high-speed mobile network, enormous increase in data generation, increase in internet penetration are driving the growth of the global small cell power amplifiers market to a great extent. Urbanization and industrialization are leading to expansion of the user base at a rapid pace, due to which, telecommunication companies are focusing on providing a heterogeneous and upgraded network with an improved user experience, better network quality, high speed mobile data, customer feedback, and telecom improvements.
The Small Cell Forum (SCF) has recently released the 5G nFAPI 1.0 specification for 5G small cell deployment. It claims to be highly flexible next-generation network interface which supplements the extensively adopted FAPI MAC/PHY API used in the huge majority of the world’s millions of established System-on-a-Chip (SoC) based small cells. The scalability and flexibility of modular and virtualized radio access networks are expected to boost innovation in cellular infrastructure, help reduce OPEX and CAPEX costs, and enable a software upgradable network architecture.
Furthermore, 5G nFAPI 1.0 specification for 5G small cell deployment has brought together the combined knowledge and deployment experience of leading mobile operators, silicon vendors, and telecoms software companies to enable an open interface for disaggregated small cell solutions. With this drift on board, the global small cell power amplifiers market has a huge scope to gather growth and prospects in the near future.
