Wireless broadband network investments will create 1.2M jobs over 5 years, report says

Private investment in US wireless broadband infrastructure promises to catalyze economic growth and employment over the next five years, according to a new report released by trade association PCIA. However, the association warned that fulfillment of that promise requires foresight from the Federal Communications Commission and local zoning authorities.

The report, written by Information Age Economics, evaluates the economic and job-creation impacts generated by projected wireless infrastructure investments between $34 billion to $36 billion per year over the next five years, said PCIA. Those investments will generate as much as $1.2 trillion in cumulative economic growth, a 606 percent increase over the total amount the wireless industry will invest, according to the study. On the employment front, wireless investments will yield more than 28,000 new jobs in 2017 and more than 122,000 jobs during the next five years in the wireless infrastructure industry alone, the report said. Jonathan Adelstein, PCIA president and CEO, noted the gains predicted in the report are dependent upon future FCC policy as well as appropriate zoning rules at the local level.