Wireless Infrastructure

Overview

This programme delivers analyses the techno-economics and trade-offs of mobile network investment. It delivers data on the fundamental building blocks of mobile networks: spectrum, technologies and sites. It delivers comprehensive actual and forecast data on mobile and other wireless traffic. It explores the relationships between investment in the building blocks and demand, both for vertically integrated mobile operator and for structurally delayered entities in the mobile value chain.

Themes

• Traffic. Trends in mobile traffic composition, and the likely sources of new traffic.
• Spectrum. Competing claims on new spectrum bands and the requirements of mobile operators.
• Delayering. Models for delayering mobile networks.

Questions answered

• Capex. What is the relationship between mobile traffic and future investment? Will mobile operators need to spend as much on RAN upgrades in the future?
• Delayering. Are there substantial economic advantages to delayering networks and services, and if so along what lines (active/passive) should networks delayer?
• Spectrum. Are spectrum crunches a thing of the past, and what are the alternatives to the current models of assignment?
• Towercos. Should towercos stick to a simple business model, integrate other infrastructure assets, or push deeper into technology?
• Sharing. How much sharing of resources and assets makes economic sense?