Wednesday, August 30, 2023

How Much Does Wi-Fi Lower Mobile Operator Capex?

Offload of mobile network data traffic to Wi-Fi has alleviated a significant amount of mobile network capital investment, one might argue. By some estimates, between 24 percent and 65 percent of mobile data traffic often is offloaded to Wi-Fi. 


Though the reduction in capital investment requirements is not linear, mobile operators obviously must acquire less spectrum, use fewer radios and capacity to support their current customers because Wi-Fi offload exists. 


In addition to the savings in capital investment, Wi-Fi offload can also lead to other benefits for mobile operators, such as reduced operating costs; improved customer experience; increased network capacity and reduced congestion. 


Research Firm

Year

Percentage of Mobile Data Traffic Offloaded to Wi-Fi

Stationary/Indoors

Mobile/Outdoors

Cisco

2022

54%

70%

30%

Opensignal

2022

24%

60%

40%

Ericsson

2023

59%

75%

25%

ABI Research

2025

65%

80%

20%


The value of offload also can vary by mobile provider, as some firms have less spectrum per account than others, making offload an arguably more-important tool. Some mobile operators also own more fixed network assets, and relatively scant mobile spectrum assets, which can also affect the value of such offload operations. 


U.S. cable operators, for example, rely on Wi-Fi offload to lessen the amount of wholesale capacity they must purchase from their suppliers. 


Company

Total Accounts (millions)

Revenue per Account ($)

Total Spectrum Holdings (MHz)

Spectrum Currently Deployed (MHz)

Spectrum per Customer Account (MHz)

AT&T

130

45

1,215

750

2.5

Verizon

120

48

1,340

1,000

3.3

T-Mobile

95

40

1,200

700

4.0

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