Verizon's Super Bowl Investment Can Tell Telecom Investors A Lot About The Future Of Small Cell Technology

In a new report, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk takes a look at Verizon Communications Inc. VZ’s Super Bowl ad for indications of the technological direction that Verizon will be taking in coming years. According to Piecyk, Verizon’s primary talking point of late has been small cells.

“Their $70 million network investment for Super Bowl 50 has become the poster child for the benefits of small cell investment, even though Verizon was only able to install 20% of the 400 small cells it initially intended to deploy,” he explains.

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In preparation for Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, Verizon installed 16 new macro cells at a total estimated cost of $5 million.

“Verizon also used more spectrum in existing cell sites as part of the San Francisco investment despite comments to the contrary made by Verizon CFO Fran Shammo a few weeks ago,” Piecyk adds.

Even though Verizon was only able to deploy 75 small cells prior to the Super Bowl, BTIG expects them to finish installing the remainder of the 400 small cells by the end of the year.

In the future, Piecyk expects that telecoms will face increasing push-back from local communities as they begin to realize how many small cells are being deployed.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.