The leaders of the top 20 mobile phone companies in the world, who between them have access to 1.6 billion people around the globe, yesterday delivered a letter of intent to those attending the G20 summit. It appears that in return for a “minimally intrusive regulatory environment” the members of the GSM Association appear willing to invest billions of dollars into mobile broadband. We are talking about companies such as Vodafone, Telefonica and manufacturing giant Nokia.
The members of the mobile network trade body, the GSM Association, believe that mobile broadband could have the same effect on the world economy as mobile phones in their very early days. The possible boost to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be in the region of 3-4 per cent at a time when the world economy is struggling.
The industry as a whole already has around $800 billion earmarked for investment over the next five years, with a significant $550 billion to be targeted at the mobile broadband market. In return for yet more significant investment the industry is demanding a greater share of new radio spectrum around the world, as the sector goes head-to-head with digital television. There are concerns we could see a similar situation to the 3G licence auctions in the 1980s where the sky-high cost of bidding for these licenses impacted greatly upon the amount of money left to invest in services.