The MR&F found that intelligent transportation spending jumped 56.8 percent in 2015 and will continue to lead all specialized services over the next four years.
According to the MR&F, data use continues to surge and is the driving force behind U.S. spending growth. U.S. wireless data traffic more than doubled in 2014 and will be more than six times higher by 2018. Network backbone infrastructure spending climbed 25.3 percent, Telecommunications network equipment spending rose 8.9 percent in 2014 to $279.3 billion.
The MR&F found that U.S. spending on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) more than doubled between 2012 and 2014, reaching $13.5 billion in 2014 – a 56.8 percent increase over 2013. The MR&F predicts ITS will lead all other specialized service categories over the next four years, with spending tripling by 2018 to $39 billion.
Spending on cloud computing rose 20.1 percent in 2014 to $67.5 billion, and will reach $117 billion by 2018 at a 14.7 percent compound annual growth rate. M2M spending increased 31.6 percent in 2014 to $11.2 billion, and will reach $22.6 billion by 2018 – a 19.1 percent compound annual growth rate.
76 percent of telecom operators believe mobile broadband capacity and 74 percent said the Internet of Things are the two primary drivers for 5G development.
Telecoms strongly believe Asia will lead 5G development (71 percent selecting this option), followed by North America (52 percent) and Europe (45 percent).
One-third of respondents expect their company to launch commercial service before 2021; the majority do not expect full commercial service until after 2022.
Overall telecom spending will grow at a compound annual rate of 4.7 percent over the next four years to $6.5 trillion in 2018 from $5.4 trillion in 2014.
Overall U.S. telecommunications spending will grow at a compound annual rate of 5.5 percent over the next four years to $1.66 trillion in 2018 from $1.34 trillion in 2014.
In 2014, U.S. consumer spending on wireless data overtook voice spending, and by 2018 will account for 67 percent of total wireless spending.
Wireless penetration in the U.S., which surpassed 100 percent in 2013, continues to grow – climbing 4.2 percent in 2014.
Fueled by LTE availability, smartphone sales nearly tripled between 2010 and 2013, however that growth slowed to 6.1 percent in 2014; unit sales will grow just 1.1 percent on a compound annual basis over the next four years.
editor@telecomlead.com