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Mar 16, 2017 - 07:40 AM
Good afternoon. That number is solely macrocells and I believe more recent numbers are just under 320,000 macrocells in the US currently. I suspect that this number is fairly accurate and within +/- 10,000.
In terms of small cells/micro cells- much harder question to answer because the definition of small cells isn't very clear. The tower companies refer to DAS nodes and small cells as small cells. The wireless industry sometimes includes femtocells in their count of small cells. If you are excluding femtocells, I would guesstimate that the number of small cells is around 100,000 with approximately 15,000 to 25,000 being added per year but that will accelerate. For example, Crown Castle has 18,000 nodes deployed.
In terms of power usage- I don't know the number of kilowatts used- but I can tell you power usage typically runs $200/mo to $400/mo for a standard macrocell. Figure 1/10th of that for small cells.
In terms of small cells/micro cells- much harder question to answer because the definition of small cells isn't very clear. The tower companies refer to DAS nodes and small cells as small cells. The wireless industry sometimes includes femtocells in their count of small cells. If you are excluding femtocells, I would guesstimate that the number of small cells is around 100,000 with approximately 15,000 to 25,000 being added per year but that will accelerate. For example, Crown Castle has 18,000 nodes deployed.
In terms of power usage- I don't know the number of kilowatts used- but I can tell you power usage typically runs $200/mo to $400/mo for a standard macrocell. Figure 1/10th of that for small cells.
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