Mobile broadband technologies are expected to play a starring role at the CTIA Wireless 2009 show being held in Las Vegas April 1-3 as North American operators continue to build out high-speed data networks despite the ongoing economic downturn. In the case of LTE, major operators such as Verizon Wireless are still committed to launching LTE in 2010, although WiMAX has recently taken a hit with Clearwire announcing that it won’t launch in any new markets until 2010.

“Despite the impact of tough economic times on North America, the deployment of mobile broadband networks - and customer adoption of the services they enable - is continuing,” says Tammy Parker ( above ), principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “Broader availability of smartphones, as well as netbooks and laptops with embedded mobile broadband connectivity, is helping spur demand for high-speed data delivery, leading operators to chart their courses to the next generation of technologies that includes LTE and WiMAX.

It behooves operators to stimulate this demand because mobile broadband customers generally deliver the highest average revenue per user (ARPU),” says Parker. Mobile broadband is already a must-have service for many consumers and businesses, which helps to explain why it will be one of the strongest mobile segments throughout the downturn. “We’ve fully revised all our forecasts in light of the economic downturn, but we’re still expecting strong growth through 2013 in mobile broadband subscribers, device unit sales and operator data revenues,” says Mike Roberts, principal analyst at Informa, and lead author of Future Mobile Broadband: HSPA and EV-DO to LTE Networks, Devices and Services.