After a 7% decline in 2009 and no growth in 2010, the spending by telecoms operators grew 9% in 2011, says IHS.
This year the operators spent $42.5bn, up from $39bn in 2010.
Spending is expected to grow at single digit rates through 2015.
‘All of the carriers in the developed nations are focusing on investing in incremental network technology upgrades to 3.5G, 3.75G and 3.9G technologies. However, several carriers are going further and have commenced trials and are beginning to deploy and commercially operate 4G LTE networks, states IHS.
The operators’ strategy of incremental technology migration has helped carriers keep pace with the bandwidth growth on their networks, without requiring a widespread rollout to OFDMA.
While 3.5G/3.75G is still the dominant air interface technology in terms of the mobile infrastructure market, the market for 4G LTE mobile infrastructure is now gaining momentum.
Global revenue in 2011 for 3G and 3.5G infrastructure gear will peak in 2011. Beginning in 2012, factory revenue for 3G/3.5G wireless technologies will start to decline as carriers migrate to 4G LTE.
IHS expects that starting in 2013, 4G will account for the largest portion of the global wireless infrastructure market, increasing to approximately $36.1bn in 2015.