Cisco Mobile Forecast Good for Tower Sector, Other Infrastructure Providers, Analyst Says

Cisco’s Tuesday forecast for mobile data traffic growth offers “some positive read-throughs to the telecommunications infrastructure providers, namely the tower sector,” said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in an email to investors Thursday. “We believe this report’s findings also have positive implications for other parts of the ecosystem including fiber players and data center companies.” Cisco said mobile data traffic’s share within total IP traffic will more than double by 2021 from its 2016 share, while average mobile data speeds will more than triple. It forecast that large-scale deployments of 5G infrastructure will begin affecting mobile data traffic in 2020-2021 (see 1702070040). The forecast for 5G “bodes well for [tower companies], especially those exposed to the small cell area” like Crown Castle, Fritzsche said. “While the formal standard of 5G will not be set until 2020, we do know the critical elements of the 5G infrastructure will be small cells and fiber.”