Despite Recession, Wireless Infrastructure CAPEX Should Grow in 2010

In the most pessimistic of three new ABI Research forecast scenarios, worldwide capital expenditure on wireless infrastructure should still post a year-over-year growth of 1.5% between 2009 and the end of 2010. The most optimistic of the three forecasts sees that CAPEX figure reach as much as 3.7% growth.

“It’s no surprise that 2009 will be a bad year for wireless infrastructure spending,” says senior analyst Aditya Kaul. “But 2010 is likely to see a renewed focus on spending due to competitive pressures around improving capacity and coverage..”

Even within the depressed 2009 spending picture, regional differences exist. While spending has been reduced in Western Europe, operators in North America – despite seeing some negative impact – intend to continue with their 4G upgrade plans, while CAPEX in China and India is expected to get a boost as 3G deployments get under way.

And, Kaul notes, “The storm-clouds of 2009 may actually have silver linings. Some segments may benefit as alternatives to traditional macro base-station deployments: in-building wireless, femtocells, more energy-efficient ‘green’ base stations, infrastructure sharing, single RAN base stations, and more spectrally-efficient technologies.”

Posted to the site on 4th June 2009