NEW YORK-Wireless capital expenditure in the United States for 2003 edged out its wireline counterpart, highlighting an onset of stability in the industry after the recent bubble, according to a report from Skyline Marketing Group.
According to the study, U.S. wireless carriers’ capex jumped 6 percent compared with the wireline space, which witnessed an 8-percent drop for 2003. Wireless carriers’ capex amounted to $20.3 billion, according to the report.
The study, however, noted that capex levels had stabilized in all of the telecom world.
“2004e can be seen as a turnaround year, although we should not expect capital spending to return to the peaks reached in the 1999-2000 period when a unique set of circumstances came together to drive capex well beyond historical levels,” said the report.
The report noted that the shift from legacy systems to new areas such as wireless data and broadband spurred the capex rise.
