HAWKING BANDWIDTH

Although the boom years of wholesaling bandwidth are over, The Yankee Group predicts a recovery in coming years. In its new Wholesale Services Forecast, the firm said revenues for both 2001 and 2002 will be below 2000 levels. But next year the market is expected to pick up again as more advanced wavelength services take root and demand in the metro markets begins to drive growth.
— Kevin Fitchard

Wholesale services forecast
(in billions)

Already a sizable industry in 2001, wholesale services revenues are expected to grow 61% in four years. While switched message services account for the majority of today's revenue, local private-line services are quickly becoming the main revenue generator.

MESSAGING MAYHEM

Wireless carriers are finally moving to interoperability among their short message service (SMS) networks. It's a major barrier that, once overcome, could spur an SMS revolution in the U.S. similar to that seen in Europe, The Yankee Group predicts. In its latest SMS analysis, the firm projects that the amount of active SMS users in the U.S. will more than triple this year, and by 2006 active users will number almost 100 million, representing about half of the wireless subscribers in the U.S. Active SMS users in the U.S.