Infrastructure speed: Watch capital investment in 4G for the next inflection

The shift from 3G to 4G will launch another innovation explosion

PwC predicts that infrastructure speed will be the fastest improving component of the seven enabling technologies in the PwC Mobile Technology Index through 2015. We are forecasting a global compound annual growth rate of 54% (as measured in average megabits per second) through 2015.

Predicting the innovation surge


By 2015, we also expect the three factors associated with the transition to 4G technology---share of infrastructure investment, share of devices and share of subscribers---to reach levels that could trigger a robust period of 4G innovation.

This article explains how and why we reached these conclusions and delves into some of the developments we might expect to see as 4G hits the benchmarks needed to cause a surge in innovation.

Mobile technologies index articles

Published Title Article
05/09/2013 Mobile operating system: Smartphones will just get smarter View PDF
03/05/2013 Enabling devices to offer users more natural interaction View PDF
1/17/2013 Image sensor: Steady growth for new capabilities View PDF
12/13/2012 Storage: Quenching the thirst for more View PDF
11/09/2012 Memory: The ever-predictable DRAM path View PDF
10/02/2012 Application processors: Driving the next wave of innovation View PDF
09/12/2012 Infrastructure speed: Watch capital investment in 4G for the next inflection View PDF
07/25/2012 Device connectivity speed: One half of an equation View PDF
07/25/2012 Making sense of the rapid change in mobile innovation View PDF

Mobile innovations forecast

Predicting the innovation surge

The PwC Mobile Technologies Index and our analysis suggests that another major inflection point of new mobile based products and services will soon appear. The prediction is based on what happened in the past---the transition from 2G to 3G began when penetration reached:

The 3G to 4G innovation surge will likely begin when: