Cellular base station architectures are shifting from traditional macrocells to distributed base stations and toward the growing use of small cell base stations. Number of LTE small cells shipments will surpass the number of LTE macrocells as early as 2014, predicts ABI Research. Company estimates that  127,000 LTE small cells would be sold against 113,000 by 2014.

According to ABI Research LTE base station revenues will continue to be dominated by macro base station revenue with small cell revenue of $1.09 billion representing only 5.2% of the total revenue of $20.86 billion in 2014 and growing to $4.44 billion or 23.9% of the total $18.60 billion LTE base station market by 2016.

Equipment manufacturers have been quick to respond to this shift in RAN architecture. Ericsson acquired BelAir networks as part of its “HetNet” initiative, Nokia Siemens Networks announced Flexi Zone, Alcatel-Lucent continues to expand its lightRadio™ portfolio and Huawei has announced its AtomCell products.