Worldwide mobile carrier infrastructure investment is ‘aggressive’

Broadcast Engineering

Tue, 2008-07-15 08:00

ABI Research projects that annual infrastructure investments by mobile carriers will grow to $163 billion by 2013, most of it earmarked for data services.

Although most current capital investment by mobile carriers is for voice services and 2G network expansion, “CAPEX for data services will surpass that for voice sometime in 2009 as 4G starts to arrive…by 2013, the percentage split will be 28 percent for voice, 67 percent for data and 5 percent for mobile TV,” said Hwai Lin Khor of ABI Research.

ABI Research’s “Mobile Operator Capital Expenditure Analysis” highlights the latest trends influencing capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments by mobile operators worldwide. This study provides the historical and forecast CAPEX based on regions, mobile technologies, mobile services and network infrastructure components from 2003 to 2013. Among its findings:

Global CAPEX investment will rise from more than $113 billion in 2007 to $163.5 billion in 2013
Asia-Pacific regional CAPEX growth will be mainly driven by expanding existing 2G footprints and new 3G rollouts
North America CAPEX will remain flat this year, but carriers will spend for 3G upgrades to HSDPA/HSPA and EvDO Rev. A as well as activities related to mobile WiMAX

For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com/press/1172-Mobile+CAPEX+More+Than+%24131+Billion+and+Rising+Despite+Turbulent+Economy.

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