A Look at the U.S. Wireless Infrastructure Landscape by the Numbers
A Look at the U.S. Wireless Infrastructure Landscape by the Numbers
March 23, 2023
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The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) recently released a report on March 15 titled “Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers.” This report measures the size of the United States’ wireless infrastructure sector at the end of 2022, including cell towers, indoor and outdoor small cells, microcell sectors, annual spending, and the jobs in the United States that support wireless infrastructure. This provides one of the clearest pictures of the 5G marketplace than ever before.
In 2022, network operating expenses for wireless and mobile networks in the United States exceeded $46 billion. By the end of 2022, the United States had 142,100 cell towers in operation, 209,500 macrocell sites deployed, 678,700 macrocell sectors in operation, 452,200 outdoor small cell nodes deployed, and 747,400 indoor small cell nodes in use. The massive scale and scope of wireless infrastructure in America is truly remarkable, but what is even more impressive is this industry employees over 400,000 Americans to build, maintain, and operate these wireless and mobile networks.
“The truth is, none of the numbers surprised me,” said President and CEO of WIA Patrick Halley. “It’s just a testament to the hard work that our members are out there doing every day to keep America connected. Consumers expect to be online anytime, anywhere – and our industry delivers every day in homes, businesses, public venues, vehicles, and everywhere else across America.”
Because this report segments infrastructure by type, it offers a more thorough look at the landscape of the 5G marketplace than recent findings from CTIA, the primary trade association for the United States wireless industry.
Last year alone, the United States wireless and mobile industry spent $11.9 billion building additional capacity and coverage into the nation’s wireless networks that will contribute to more growth in 2023.