Microcell is a type of small cell in the phone network served by low power base station (antenna) and covers a limited coverage area such as malls, hotels, and school buildings. Small cells are used to provide adequate capacity and good coverage area compared to macrocells. Macrocells use a wide-area high power base station, which cover large spaces such as highways and rural areas. There are various types of small cells such as a femtocell, picocell, and microcells. The range of femtocell is 10m, a picocell is 200m, and for microcells it is 2km. Microcells are small compared to macrocells with a range of 10m to 2km instead of 10 km. Additionally, the high adoption of these cells by end-users and enterprises is expected to drive the growth of the microcells basestation construction market.

Factors driving growth of the microcell basestation construction market

Less power consumption is a major factor which is expected to drive growth of the microcell basestation construction market. Microcells consume less power for transmission of the signal than macrocell transmission networks. Macrocells consumes more energy as compared to microcell for signal transmission. Lesser transmission of power from microcell networks leads to less battery drain of the devices. Thus, mobile operators prefer microcells to offer better services such as long-term evaluation (LTE) technology and 5G technology to subscribers. For instance, in January 2018, Nokia Corporation launched the first MulteFire small cell that increase the adoption of LTE networks for various industries and enterprises such as logistics, energy, mining, transportation, manufacturing, venues, and smart cities.

The increasing adoption of smart technologies such as internet of things (IoT) is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period due to an increase in data traffic through transmission of digital content over the internet. The growth of the small cell 5G network has been influenced by the increase in data traffic in smartphones and other (IoT) connected devices. These factors are driving telecom operators to provide superior network quality to end-users. The dependency on mobile data has led to an increase in the installation of these networks. Microcells can be installed indoors and outdoors based on requirement for the coverage area.

However, high deployment cost of microcells is a major factor that is expected to hinder growth of the microcell basestation construction market. Small cell networks such as microcell, picocell and femtocell require high installation cost which is expected to hinder growth of the market during the forecast period.

Regional analysis of microcell basestation construction market

On the basis of region, the global microcell basestation construction market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. Among regions, Asia Pacific is expected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period, supported by the presence of key players in the region such as Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd and ZTE Corporation. For instance, in June 2019, Ericsson Corporation launched Standalone NR software and 5G cloud core solution with 5G commercial base stations from its Ericsson Radio Systems. Ericsson Corporation 5G base station offers Baseband 6630 and AIR 6488 which are used in commercial 5G networks all over the world.

Apart from Asia Pacific, North America is expected to exhibit significant growth due to the increasing penetration of smartphones and 5G technologies across the region. For instance, mobile network operators such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the U.S. have started testing the 5G technology by the end of 2019. In May 2020, AT&T and Cisco Systems Inc. launched Webex Calling that provides help in business calling, meetings, and team collaborations by using AT&T's highly secure and reliable network.

Key Developments:

In February 2018, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd launched 5G product solutions follow 3GPP standards and good coverage characteristics. Newly launched 5G product solutions support millimeter wave (mm-Wave), C-band, and all Sub-3 GHz frequency bands. These products offered continuous coverage and fulfill capacity requirements for indoor and outdoor hotspots.

In December 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. launched the new Cisco Silicon One (Cisco 8000 series), a world-class router that allows customers to use the company’s new 5G technology. The mission of launching the Cisco 8000 Series is to reduce the cost of building and operating multiple networks to run digital applications and services such as 5G, video, and cloud.

Impact of COVID-19 on microcell basestation construction market:

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, several industries have witnessed a significant shift in their business. Several countries are under lockdown and people are staying at home and following social distancing to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Due to the rising demand for connectivity, dependence on a wireless network has also increased. The speed of mobile data and broadband has also been hampered due to the increased pressure on networks. For instance, in May 2020, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) asked the government to request streaming service providers such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Zee5 to reduce advertisements and pop-ups to reduce the strain on networks. Thus, the increasing demand from individual consumers is expected to drive the growth of the microcell basestation construction market.

Furthermore, the manufacturing of IT hardware has been impacted due to disruptions in the supply chain, which has led to increased cost and lesser availability of hardware in the market. For instance, according to the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), manufacturers of IT hardware incurred losses worth US$ 1,983 million due to the suspension of hardware production.

Key players in the microcell basestation construction market

Key players operating in the microcell basestation construction market are Cisco System, Inc., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, Nokia Corporation, SAMSUNG, Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Ltd., ip.access Ltd., Airspan Networks., COMMSCOPE, NEC Corporation, and ZTE Corporation.

Segmentation of microcell basestation construction market

The microcell basestation construction market is segmented on the basis of type, application, and region.

On the basis of ype, the market is segmented into:
- Indoor Basestation
- Outdoor Basestation
On the basis of application, the market is segmented into:
- Offices
- Hospitals
- Shopping Centre
- Schools
On the basis of region, the market is segmented into:
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Latin America
- Middle East & Africa