AT&T drops goal of deploying 40,000 small cells by end of 2015, citing benefits of Leap deal

AT&T no longer plans to deploy 40,000 small cells on its network by the end of 2015, a goal that had been a key element of its Project Velocity IP (VIP) network initiative. The carrier is not saying how many small cells it plans to deploy by the end of 2015, but said that its 2014 acquisition of Leap Wireless removed the need to deploy as many small cells as it originally had planned because the deal gave AT&T more macro cell sites for capacity.

AT&T executives never explicitly declared that deploying 40,000 small cells by end-2015 was no longer the company's goal. However, its executives hinted over the course of 2014, following the close of the Leap deal in March 2014, that the carrier's plan were shifting, according to AT&T.

Even though AT&T is pulling back from its original goal, the company insists that small cells remain an integral part of its network. The company's original goal, which included both indoor and outdoor small cells, made AT&T one of the biggest proponents of the technology, which is designed to augment capacity as an element of heterogeneous networks. Despite repeated requests for clarification, AT&T declined to comment on how many small cells the company has deployed on its network today or how many it plans to have deployed by the end of 2015.