Global telecom carrier capex to total $310.8 billion in 2011, up 5.8% over 2010, according to a study by Infonetics Research.

The fastest-growing investment areas among telecom carriers in 2011 has been WiMAX equipment (+27.5%) and video infrastructure (+20.7%). The largest investment areas remain non-telecom/datacom equipment (software, real estate, labor, etc.) and mobile infrastructure, global spending for which is growing 7% and 8.6%, respectively, in 2011 over 2010

“The near-6% increase in global telecom carrier capex we expect in 2011 over 2010 is due in large part to AT&T’s ramping LTE deployments, HSPA+ upgrades, and investments in WiFi hotspots for traffic offload. This offsets Verizon Wireless’ slowing mobile spending since their LTE rollout peaked earlier this year.” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research.

In the Caribbean and Latin America region, América Móvil and Telefónica, the two telecom giants that control 75% of mobile subscribers there, are preparing their infrastructure to host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016,”

Téral adds: “We maintain our view that the sovereign debt crisis that is paralyzing Europe continues to have little impact on our telecom capex forecast. As long as credit remains available to telecoms at a fair price, the ongoing sovereign debt crisis should have little impact on telecommunications equipment spending. Investment plans across world regions suggest mobile broadband and FTTx is the name of the game going forward.”