The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) released a recent report that looks at the state of cellular infrastructure in the country. WIA is a trade association representing the companies that build, own, and operate wireless infrastructure. Membership includes wireless carriers, firms that own towers, and professional service firms.

It’s always been a challenge outside of reports like this to get a good snapshot of wireless infrastructure. According to the report, at the end of 2024, there were:

• 154,800 cell large towers built for the purpose of serving a single wireless carrier.
• 248,050 macrocell sites. These are tall towers that provide space for two or more carriers.
• 197,850 small cell sites. These are neighborhood cell sites located on poles and rooftops that are generally under 50 feet in height.
• 802,500 indoor small cell nodes that support DAS, small cells, CBRS private network, millimeter wave transmitters, and other licensed frequency bands.

The report says there was a slight decrease in the number of small cell sites in 2024. A decade ago, the industry promised to build a million of these and put a small cell site in every neighborhood. However, when people started working at home during the pandemic, there was a decreasing need for small cell sites that needed to support a workday concentration of cell users. It’s interesting that there are still twice as many large cell towers as there are small cell sites.

The cell tower business nationwide supports 368,750 people who are engaged in building, maintaining, and operating cell networks.

There is still a lot of spending on cell infrastructure, and WIA says the industry spent $10.8 billion in 2024 to expand capacity and coverage. That figure represents only new and upgraded cell sites and includes the cost of new towers, electronics, installation, engineering, and deployment costs. The biggest part of this spending was $8.4 billion on RAN electronics.

Total network operating outlays for the industry in 2024 was almost $63.6 billion. That includes the $10.8 billion mentioned above for new towers and upgrades. Spending on cell tower maintenance is increasing while spending on new cell sites has been falling. Part of the increase in maintenance costs is for carriers paying to lease towers rather than build new ones.

The fastest-growing industry segment is indoor infrastructure that serves locations like stadiums, convention centers, hotels, business buildings and complexes, and large apartment complexes. Landlords and owners of this infrastructure are investing in infrastructure to bring good cell coverage indoors – something that is becoming increasingly problematic as cell carriers shift to higher frequencies that don’t penetrate buildings as well.

WIA thinks the most important trend in the industry is carriers moving to more shared macrotower sites. The infrastructure savings and the efficiencies for transport are too large to ignore.

From a broadband perspective, this means that existing sites might need a lot more bandwidth when multiple carriers share an existing tower. But the trend also means a lot fewer new cell sites being constructed, meaning less new revenue opportunity for fiber providers.

This report made me wonder how enthusiastic the big carriers are for the FCC to ever launch the 5G Plan for Rural America, which would have them opening a lot more low-margin rural cell sites. I suspect the folks who build towers love the idea, but I have to wonder if carriers are lukewarm on the idea of permanently supporting new rural towers.