By Kelly Hill
CTIA’s annual industry survey has found that wireless network investment reached US$30 billion last year — the third year in a row of increasing investment, and a five-year high that comes as carriers transition their networks to 5G. The number of operational cellular sites in the US has rapidly increased over the past two years, the survey found, and data-only devices such as hot spots, smart watches and other IoT devices now represent more than 40 per cent of the wireless device base.
CTIA has been conducting its annual industry survey for more than three decades. The 2021 survey, the industry organization said, reflects a “remarkable run of private investment that ensured wireless networks were more than up to the challenges posed by COVID-19. [Last year] saw 5G networks lit up across the country, bringing these next-gen networks into the hands and homes of millions—and keeping us connected when we needed it most.”
Among the findings in the 2021 survey:
-The US wireless industry accounts for 18 per cent of the world’s total mobile capital expenditures, although CTIA notes that the country has less than 5 per cent of the world’s population and 5.9 per cent of its mobile connections. The domestic wireless industry has invested nearly US$140 billion in their network the past five years, the report says — and that doesn’t include the cost of spectrum. The two Federal Communications Commission auctions held during 2020 accounted for another US$85 billion in spending, with most of that coming from the C Band auction. CTIA said that auction revenues in the US since 2016 total more than US$116 billion.
-Since 2016, the number of operational cell sites in the US has increased 35 per cent, the survey says, to more than 417,200 sites. In particular, the past two years have seen a boom: More cell sites have been sited than in the previous seven years combined, CTIA says, crediting federal siting rules that have streamlined processes and reduced timelines.
-Approximately 300 million Americans are covered by 5G networks as of this year, up from about 200 million last year, according to the report. In the two years since the launch of 5G in the US, the three national carriers have built out 5G 42 per cent faster than 4G, by CTIA’s calculations.
-CTIA says that there are about 468.9 million wireless connections in the US market, of which data-only device like smart watches, hot spots and IoT sensors now represent more than 40 per cent, or 190.4 million.
-The growing number of data-only devices has helped to fuel a continued boom in data traffic. The report says that mobile wireless data traffic topped 42 trillion MB last year, reflecting a 208 per cent increase since 2016. Multimedia messaging also boomed in the past year: CTIA said that there was a 28 per cent increase in people sending GIFs, videos and other MMS during 2020, while voice traffic saw 2.9 trillion minutes of use.
