CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-Capital expenditures by wireless carriers on infrastructure will begin to slow next year, decreasing from 47 percent of total operator capex to 33 percent by 2009, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.
“The rapid growth of non-infrastructure spending is due to the combined effect of factors ranging from demand for additional capacity to convergence and network evolution towards next-generation networks,” said Ozgur Aytar, the report’s author.
Pyramid said investments are transitioning from coverage-based radio network deployments to advancements in the core network, new applications and network professional services. However, vendors will find new business opportunities in managed services, systems integration, performance services and other consulting services.
In the future, vendors must be able to compete on price, said the report.
“To provide end-to-end solutions, vendors will increasingly rely on partnerships and acquisitions of other sources of expertise,” said Aytar. “In the NGN world, service providers will evaluate the ecosystem as much as they evaluate the vendor itself.”
