Has Telecom Investment Peaked?
24 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2012
Date Written: August 15, 2010
Abstract
n Washington, public money is being allocated to help create advanced information infrastructure. About $7 billion has been designated for broadband communications. The first grants are now trickling out, but such spending will not continue much longer, it being part of the emergency stimulus package. A second concrete activity is in the works — the implementation of a national broadband plan by the Federal Communications Commission on how to fill in the white spots on the geographic and social maps of broadband penetration. But what about private investments in broadband infrastructure? As part of its national plan, the FCC commissioned a report from the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, to provide information about capital investment trends in broadband infrastructure. First, the good news. According to the aggregate reports of financial analysts, overall capital investments by the major telecom carriers, cable TV companies, and wireless providers was $51 billion in 2009. Of these, approximately $30 billion went to broadband construction and upgrade. Investment is projected by Wall Street analysts to remain close to that level into 2015.
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