Spending on wireless broadband technology will continue to rise even during harsh economic times, the GSM Association has reported.
The latest figures from the company suggest telcos across the globe will spend about half of the $US72 billion currently set aside for mobile infrastructure spending.
It also suggests North America will spend the largest percentage of the money it has set aside, about 80% of $US19 billion, while the Asia Pacific region will spend up to $US34 billion.
“The forecasted investment in mobile broadband technologies reflects the importance the mobile industry places on enabling consumers to access any type of content on the move, whenever they want, wherever they want,” said Michael O’Hara, GSMA chief marketing officer, in a statement.
“HSPA and HSPA+ have become the dominant global mobile broadband technologies and are set to benefit from a significant proportion of this CAPEX investment.”
The report noted Telstra’s Next G network as the largest HSPA deployment in the world.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
