Mobile operator capital expenditure is expected to grow 5% in 2011, to reach $119 billion. According to ABI Research, 56% of global operator CAPEX came from base station deployments, upgrades and swap-outs.

“Many operators are leaning towards small cell deployments (microcells, picocells and femtocells) to fill dead zones and boost coverage inside buildings. However operators are also still investing in improving the downlink and uplink performance of their networks, not just on LTE but also HSPA+. CDMA2000 networks are similarly continuing to upgrade,” said Jake Saunders, ABI Research vice president.

Core network spending also continues to increase. In 2011, core network expenditure is likely to approach $12 billion. Spending on core network equipment is expanding on a number of fronts. Operators are not only investing in LTE Evolved Packet Core upgrades but also soft-switches that enable voice and media gateways to handle media-rich mobile data more efficiently.

There is still a considerable amount of 3G GGSN and SGSN investment going on, says practice director Aditya Kaul. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com.