Mobile operators will start rolling out small cells in bigger volumes from 2015 and that means street furniture is becoming hot property.

Helen Stalker, marketing director at small cell microwave backhaul equipment specialist Cambridge Communication Systems (CCS), likens the state of play in the small cells market to the period a decade or so ago when mobile network operators were racing one another to deploy base stations.

"It's kind of a lamp post grab," she said at the Total Telecom Festival this week.

In fact, "a shortage of lamp posts" has held the market back more than a shortage of spectrum, Stalker said.

CCS develops backhaul equipment that operates in licensed spectrum in the 28 GHz band, and it is also considering using the 26 GHz, 32 GHz, 38 GHz and 42 GHz bands, Stalker said. "In the future we could look at other bands," she said.

The firm developed its kit for 3G networks, but it has been deployed by 4G operators, such as China Mobile, which announced in February that it was using CCS's small cells kit as part of its TD-LTE network rollout.

"Asia is very much leading the way in terms of small cell deployment," Stalker said.

However, she predicts a ramp-up in small cells activity in 2015.

"We're not at a volume stage yet...Next year is when you're going to see significant deployments," she said.

Stalker took to the stage at the Total Telecom Festival the morning after CCS picked up the Innovation Award at the 2014 World Communications Awards for its self-organising small cell backhaul system.

The WCA "helps put us on the map," she said.