Report: U.S. Telecom Growth Slower Than Abroad

The U.S. telecommunications industry will grow at a slower rate than the global industry in the coming years as the wireless and wired markets mature, the Telecommunications Industry Association said on Friday.

According to a study commissioned by the TIA, the U.S. telecom industry will grow at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent in the period 2008–2011, reaching $1.3 trillion in 2011, compared with an average rate of 10 percent, reaching $3.6 trillion, for the rest of the world.

Growth in the U.S. industry will accelerate to 9.3 percent in 2008 from 8.3 percent in 2007, partly due to spending on network upgrades and a government spectrum auction. Growth is expected to moderate in the following years, the report said.

“License fees associated with the 700MHz auction will boost revenue in 2008, and the absence of that revenue will lead to a sharp drop in 2009,” it said.

The biggest U.S. telephone companies are Verizon Communications and AT&T.

[cob:Related_Articles]The study expects the strongest 2008–2011 growth in the Asia-Pacific region, with a 13 percent annual advance, followed by 11.1 percent for the Middle East and Africa, and 10.5 percent for Latin America.

European telecom growth will be just ahead of the United States at 7.5 percent annually, while Canada is expected to be the slowest region with 5.4 percent annually.

According to the study, about 35 percent of U.S. wireless service revenue will come from data services such as mobile Web surfing in 2011, up from 16 percent in 2007.

With Web traffic for services such as Internet video soaring, the study found that in wired networks “current capacity will soon be unable to support bandwidth demand.”

This is in contrast with the commonly held view in 2003 that “there would be excess network capacity for the foreseeable future.”