CALIFORNIA, USA: While widespread, the small cell installed base is tiny compared to that of macrocells, and although it is growing at a fast pace, it will take some time to reach meaningful penetration, finds Market research firm Infonetics Research.

"Operators we interviewed in November 2011 expect to double the percentage of base transceiver station units that are small cells from six per cent this year to 12 per cent in 2012, suggesting a significant ramp up in small cell deployments across the board," reports Stéphane Téral, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure.

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In its December 2011 Small Cell Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, the research firm finds that 72 per cent of the respondent operators participating in Infonetics' survey have already deployed small cells (it was a requirement to participate in the study to have deployed or plan to deploy small cells by 2012).

"This is despite the fact that the majority of operators still see interference management and support for heterogeneous networks as a challenge to deploying small cells. The small cell market will take off one way or the other - but operators will need to spend some time testing to figure it all out. Small cells won't come to the rescue for every situation, but they are a critical tool that operators are turning to and will continue to in increasing numbers in the future," Téral adds.

Of those deploying small cells, microcells are deployed by the most so far, however, picocells will take the lead next year.

The top three drivers for deploying small cells are optimizing in-building coverage, optimizing high data usage areas, and non-expandability of the macro network.

More operators plan to employ distributed antenna systems (DAS) and public space femtocells next year compared to this year.

Small cells are mainly used in metro areas and large enterprises now, however, reflecting the fact that service providers are facing increased pressure to keep users happy, next year respondent operators plan to deploy significantly more small cells in many more locations, including public venues, airports and stations, retail malls, hotels, highways, rural areas, etc, it adds.

Like last year, interference management and support for heterogeneous networks are operators' top-rated technical challenges to deploying small cells.