Recently I read that one of the 4 big network operators in the US supposedly has 37.000 base stations in the country. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
Well perhaps, but only until you compare it to other places in the world. Take Vodafone Germany for example. Back in 2009 they said that they have 20.000 GSM base stations, so about half of that number above. But, it's for a population of 82 million compared to almost 314 million in the US and a landmass that is significantly smaller than the US. From that point of view 37.000 base stations is not very much and explains a lot…
to what i know TMobile D also had somewhat around 30000 base stations (as of 2006/7)… i guess that a different pattern of population density could cause the mismatch in population/site ratio…
37,000 sounds less… But, I guess it really depends on the amount of traffic going through each base station. And, I guess, probably, a base station in US, in average, covers lots of more area than one in EU, or Asia.