ICYMI: Assessing the State of Technology Convergence in the Telecom Market

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During our February webinar, our expert panelists – NERA Director Dr. Hector Lopez and John Canker, Co-founder of WIVERSE and Managing Director at GravityPath – discussed ways in which commercial mobile networks and fiber networks are continuing to converge and provide consumers and enterprises an array of high-speed connectivity options. 

Key takeaways:

  • In 2024, we saw more private investment in the fiber industry, and we expect that trend to continue in 2025.
  • Fiber deployment is projected to accelerate, with industry forecasts indicating a build rate of 10 million new homes per year. 
  • MetroConnect – the industry’s largest fiber-focused conference – featured a lot of discussion around the puts and takes of deploying AI in the networks.
  • The expected rise in the cost of fiber deployment will require contingency plans to address changing market conditions. Potential challenges include the limited availability or rising prices of raw materials, as well as potential difficulties in obtaining the necessary tools.
  • John Canker highlighted the fact that there is an emerging labor shortage in the fiber industry which could impact the speed with which new fiber builds are completed. 
  • Dr. Lopez explained how spectrum legislation is scored and noted that current spectrum legislation could raise between $120-$200 billion dollars for the US Treasury. See “US spectrum pipeline could generate revenues of $120bn-$200bn.”
  • Dr. Lopez also explained how NERA derived the economic impact of each additional 100 MHz of spectrum up to 400 MHz that it modeled in its new paper, “The Economic Impact of Each Additional 100 MHz of Mid-band Spectrum for Mobile.” NERA estimates that 6.18 million jobs will be created, the GDP would grow by $1.1 trillion

You can watch or listen to the entire conversation below: