It's a common enough prediction that small cells will cross the chasm to mass deployment in 2016 as the technology plays an increasingly crucial role in filling out gaps in coverage and improving the user experience of mobile broadband networks. Mobile broadband networks are an increasingly critical part of the communications landscape. The GSMA predicts that mobile broadband connections will account for almost 72 percent of the global base by 2020, up from just under 63 percent at the end of 2015. Mobile broadband networks need to not only deal with a vast and growing amount of traffic, but also deliver a huge amount of bandwidth. They are expected to be everywhere and to give cost-effective connectivity to a wide range of mobile devices. The mobile ecosystem is a major driver of economic progress. The GSMA says that in 2015, the mobile industry generated 4.2 percent of global GDP, the equivalent of over US$3.1 trillion of economic value across 236 countries, and says that mobile's contribution will grow faster than the rest of the global economy, contributing US$3.7 trillion to the world's GDP by the end of 2020.
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