Capital expenditure by the world's telecom operators is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 2 percent over the period 2012-2017, according to a report from Infonetics. In 2013, the marker researcher expects capex worldwide to increase by 6 percent, as growth in the BRIC countries and Japan offsets restrained spending in western countries. Infonetics projects most equipment segments to grow in 2013, with the exception of voice, broadband aggregation, and video infrastructure. Over the forecast period, the share of mobile operators in spending will increase at the expense of fixed incumbents, while the Asia Pacific region will remain the biggest spender through at least 2017. Infonetics expects total capex to increase slightly each year over the period until 2016, before declining slightly. As a percentage of revenues, global capex is expected to remain at just over 15 percent. In 2013, Infonetics estimates global telecom service revenues will hit USD 2 trillion.
