Global Spending on Mobile Networks to Grow 4% in 2010

Given dramatic increases in mobile Internet and broadband use, it is perhaps not surprising that mobile service providers will be hiking their network investments about four percent in 2010.

Informa Telecoms & Media estimates that mobile broadband subscribers worldwide  reached more than 225 million subscribers in mid-2009, representing 93 percent year-over-year growth.

Global mobile data bandwidth usage increased by about 30 percent during the second quarter of 2009, says Allot Communications.

The investment growth comes on top of about two years of flat to negative spending where mobile service providers tried to hold down spending in the face of the global recession.

Overall investment was down about three percent in 2009, says ABI Research.

Investments in 3.5G technologies such as HSPA and HSPA+, along with the rollout of 4G LTE networks by large operators such Verizon Wireless and Telia Sonera, are driving much of the activity. The fastest growth in capital expenditures is expected to be in South America, where compound average growth rates will average 10 percent between 2009 and 2015.

”The rapid adoption of smartphones will drive service revenue growth in 2010, as more consumers adopt data plans to take advantage of their handsets’ features,” says ABI Research analyst Bhavya Khanna.

Developed markets such as North America and Western Europe saw more than 17 percent year over year growth in mobile Internet revenues, a trend that is likely to continue into 2010.

ABI Research forecasts mobile Internet service revenues to grow at a CAGR of 9.4 percent between 2009 and 2015.