Cutting through the hyperbole around the convergence of towers, fibre, small cells and data centres

5G will create new opportunities for tower companies. But many of those opportunities will be outside our comfort zone of building, buying and leasing up macro towers. This article is preoccupied with two 5G opportunities: the opportunity to deploy fibre fed small cells, and the opportunity to co-locate micro data centres at selected cell sites. Both opportunities have been shrouded in hyperbole, so we seek to draw on the experiences of early adopters to understand how real, how valuable, and how imminent these opportunities are for towercos around the world.

5G is going to necessitate fiberizing just about every urban and suburban cell site.