Capital investment in broadband in the U.S. increased 4.2 percent...
Capital investment in broadband in the U.S. increased 4.2 percent in 2010 from the previous year to $66 billion, USTelecom said Thursday, based on a joint study with the Yankee Group. Broadband providers invested more than $1 trillion on networks…
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from 1996 through 2010, the study said. Wireline’s share continues to outpace expenditures by cable operators and wireless carriers, the group said. Wireline was responsible for 42 percent of broadband capital expenditures last year, compared to 30 percent for wireless and 19 percent for cable. Wireline capital expenditures, at $27 billion, are down from the heydays of investment in 2000 and 2001, when the U.S. fiber backbone was under construction, though investments have held steady at above $60 billion annually since 2005. “A lot of that was speculative capital that came into the market” 10 years ago, USTelecom Vice President Patrick Brogan told reporters. A dollar invested today also goes further than one spent then because of improvements in technology, he said. “This doesn’t represent a single penny of taxpayer money -- this is all private sector investment,” said USTelecom President Walter McCormick on the same media call. “The levels of investment are really at historic levels. This is a uniquely American success story.”