U.S. telecom growth seen slower than global industry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. telecommunications industry will grow at a slower rate than the global industry in the coming years as the wireless and wired markets mature, the Telecommunications Industry Association said on Friday.

According to a study commissioned by the TIA, the U.S. telecom industry will grow at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent in the period 2008-2011, reaching $1.3 trillion in 2011, compared with an average rate of 10 percent, reaching $3.6 trillion, for the rest of the world.

Growth in the U.S. industry will accelerate to 9.3 percent in 2008 from 8.3 percent in 2007, partly due to spending on network upgrades and a government spectrum auction. Growth is expected to moderate in the following years, the report said.

"License fees associated with the 700 MHz auction will boost revenue in 2008, and the absence of that revenue will lead to a sharp drop in 2009," it said.

The biggest U.S. telephone companies are Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.

While the authors of the study said industry growth could slow in an economic downturn, particularly if enterprise customers cut spending, they did not assume a severe economic impact on the telecom sector in their forecasts.

"In contrast with 2000 and 2001, telecom is not at the heart of the downturn," said Arthur Gruen of Wilkofsky Gruen Associates, which conducted the study.

Gruen, in a conference call with reporters, also said that while telecom is not immune, he is "not expecting a meltdown or anywhere near that."

He noted that even though the U.S. economic outlook has worsened since the research for the study was carried out in the fall and summer of 2007, enterprises have not shown any signs of slowing down spending on installing new phone systems.