Annual TIA Predictions Focus On Wireless Growth

The annual Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Market Review & Forecast (MR&F), published by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), this year spends a lot of time on the impact of the growth of smartphones and tablets, cloud-related services and video streaming.

The MR&F identifies 2013 as “pivotal” in the evolution of wireless communications –predicting that, for the first time, consumers will spend more on wireless data than on wireless voice services.

“The rapid advance of smart phones, cloud services and video is placing an enormous demand on the network. These devices and services are essential for consumers and have become critical for businesses,” says TIA President Grant Seiffert. “Companies supporting both wired and wireless networks are expected to spend 41 percent more in the next four years than in the previous four years. And this technology generates jobs across American industries.”

Here are some key predictions presented in this year’s report:

>> Global Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015.
>> In five years, mobile broadband traffic will be 35 times current levels.
>> U.S. spending on wireless and wired network infrastructure will grow to $296 billion by 2015.
>> The Middle East/Africa region will have 10-percent growth in telecom spending through 2015, followed by Asia Pacific at 9.5 percent and Latin America at 7.5 percent.
>> Spending on U.S. IT-based cloud computing will be the fastest-growing category.