Weak U.S. economy benefits from wireless broadband: Study

By Mickey Alam Khan

May 30, 2008

The new workspace

A new study claims that the U.S. economy is benefiting from the use of wireless broadband technology.

The independent report estimates that the total value of wireless broadband and mobile voice services will cross $427 billion by 2016, adding another $860 billion to the nation’s GDP in 10 years. The report was commissioned by CTIA – The Wireless Association and prepared by analyst Roger Entner as a follow-up to an Ovum Report in 2005.

“The key issue involves how much wireless is moving the U.S. economy forward,” said Joe Farren, assistant vice president for public affairs at the CTIA, Washington.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of attention paid to who has cell phones, meaning different demographics and what they would do with them, but we really haven’t focused on what all that activity means from an economic development productivity standpoint,” he said.

The new report shows even greater productivity and efficiency gains than first reported.

In its report, the CTIA also looked at the annual productivity gains and cost saving for the five largest U.S. states: California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois.

Research showed that the combined annual cost savings for these five states alone after implementing and using wireless broadband is projected to increase to more than $47 billion in 2016 from $10.1 billion in 2005.

Per the CTIA, more employers are turning to wireless broadband technology in this economic pinch to cut costs, increase efficiency and productivity, and stay competitive in the market.

Healthcare and small businesses were the two sectors that benefited from the use of wireless broadband, according to the report.

For instance, productivity improvements from the use of mobile broadband services across the healthcare industry will triple in 2016 to $27.2 billion, from nearly $6.9 billion in 2005.

The CTIA expects that by 2016 the United States will have 81.9 million mobile enterprise users, with 83 percent using wireless broadband. That projection is up from 68.8 million U.S. enterprise users who had mobile wireless services, with 25 percent using mobile wireless broadband.

“What it means is that wireless broadband has a unique ability to dramatically increase productivity within the enterprise,” Mr. Farren said.

Please click here for a copy of the report.