Based on commentary from Crown Castle EVP and CFO Dan Schlanger at the Citi 2023 Communications, Media and Entertainment Conference, 2023 will be a big year from small cell densification in the U.S. market. Schlanger said Citi’s Mike Rollins the company expects to bring 10,000 small cells on air this year; that’s up from 5,000 in 2022.
Schlanger noted the 18-month to 36-month gap from booking to installation, and said the past 18 months saw an acceleration in small-cell related bookings. He said Crown Castle booked 50,000 additional small cell nodes in that time period with 35,000 coming from T-Mobile US and the balance from Verizon. “Now we’re starting to get into the position where the installation acceleration is occurring…in 2023.”
