2009 Business Comms Spending Probably Flat

Overall spending by all U.S. businesses on wired and cellular calling is forecast to reach nearly $140 billion by the close of 2009, says a new market research report from Insight Research. Insight doesn't make a specific forecast for how that will stack up against 2008 spending, but the company's other forecasts suggest slight growth in 2009. 

Wholesale trade; financial, insurance, and real  estate services; professional business services and communications verticals accounted for 70 percent of total  business telecom expenditures by the end of 2008. Add durable manufacturing and healthcare and these six verticals would account for over 80 percent of total business telecom expenditures.

The study predicts that cellular calling will account for just over 41 percent of the U.S. corporate phone bill for telecommunication services in 2009, and is the fastest growing  expense area. 

Insight Research estimates that businesses spent $81.4 billion on wireline services in 2008. Over the forecast period, an increasing percentage of the business revenue growth will come from enhanced services, often for vertical industries, as telecom providers seek to avoid damaging price competition by positioning their services as value-added solutions rather than commodities.

Insight estimates that the total U.S. telecom wireless market will reach $147.7 billion in 2008. The CAGR for the forecast period is 

estimated to be 15.2 percent. Thus, unlike the wireline market, the wireless market will continue to grow over the next five years, reaching $299 billion by 2013. 

In the fourth quarter of 2005, Verizon Wireless accounted for 40 percent of the company’s total revenue, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2004 in which wireless revenues accounted for 35 percent of the company’s total revenue. In terms of 2006 annual revenues, 

Verizon reported the following: Verizon Wireless contributed $38 billion to the bottom line; Verizon Telecom contributed $33.3 billion; and Verizon Business contributed $20.5 billion. For 2007, Verizon Wireless contributed $43.9 billion to the bottom line, up 15.3 percent from 

2006; Verizon Telecom contributed $31.9 billion, which was a drop from 2006; and Verizon Business contributed $21.2 billion.

All the data suggests that wireless will continue growing faster than all other segments.

 

Wireless service revenues are expected to grow at a compounded rate of nearly 16 percent annually from 2008 to 2013, while growth in wired services remains essentially flat.