* Also: Research finds mobile subscribers closing in fast on access lines
North American service providers’ capital expenditures are projected to increase 5% to $61 billion in 2005, according to Infonetics Research.
For 2004, capex came in just under $58 billion, an increase of a fraction of a percent from 2003, the firm found. This represented a significant change from recent years that saw capex plummet during the Internet/telecom bubble of 1999-2003.
Aggregate spending held steady in 2004 after three years of drastic cuts, according to Infonetics. RBOCs and Canadian ILECs increased their capex in 2004 and will increase it again in 2005, particularly on IP/MPLS routers; cable companies decreased their capex between 2003 and 2004, but will increase spending in 2005, mostly on voice equipment and IP/MPLS routers, the firm finds.
Infonetics also found that mobile subscribers are closing in fast on access lines. Mobile subscribers now account for 90% of PSTN lines, up from 77% at the close of 2003.
North American mobile subscribers grew 13% between the fourth quarter of 2003 and fourth quarter of 2004, from 145 million to 164.3 million, Infonetics found, leading the firm to expect mobile to overtake access lines in 2005.
Meanwhile, broadband lines equaled 21% of access lines in North America in 2004. DSL subscribers increased 44% between fourth quarter of 2003 and fourth quarter of 2004 to 16.5 million, while cable Internet subscribers increased 27% between fourth quarter of 2003 and fourth quarter of 2004 to 21.4 million, according to Infonetics.
The firm expects North American carrier revenue to be flat in 2005 after inching up in 2004.
