Mobile operators will invest up to $72 billion in wireless technology

According to the GSM Association, telecoms industry body, mobile operators worldwide are expected to invest up to $72 billion in wireless broadband technologies this year to accommodate surging demand.

As the GSMA reported Wednesday the operators were seen to earmark about half of capital expenditure in mobile infrastructure for investments in mobile broadband, an overall increase of about 15% compared to 2009.

Up to $34 billion is to be invested in the Asia Pacific region, some $19 billion in North America and up to $14 billion in Europe, according to capex investment data compiled by Deutsche Bank, as the GSMA reported.

Mobile broadband refers to mobile data connections using the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standard -- a widely deployed technology that can handle both voice and data transfers so users can talk on the phone and surf the Web at the same time.

To compare, on average, 9 million new HSPA connections were added by the end of 2009.