American Tower says four forces could extend the wireless investment cycle: the next phase of 5G, a new spectrum deployment cycle, the transition to 6G, and growing AI traffic. Chief executive Steve Vondran said the company is seeing increasing evidence that those drivers could create overlapping investment cycles (via rcrwireless.com).
The company said the next phase of 5G is moving toward capacity, performance, and densification as wireless traffic keeps rising. American Tower also pointed to CTIA data showing that Americans consumed a record 159 trillion megabytes of wireless data in 2025, up more than 20% year over year, while CTIA projects total wireless demand will grow fourfold by 2032.
New spectrum cycle
American Tower expects about 800 MHz of additional mobile spectrum to become available over the coming years, starting with upper C-band in 2027 and potentially followed by 2.7 GHz, 4 GHz, and 7 GHz bands. Vondran said new spectrum deployments have historically led to more amendment activity and equipment upgrades, and the company expects the next cycle to follow a similar pattern.
6G and edge architectures
American Tower said commercial 6G deployment remains ahead, but the industry is increasingly aligned around more intelligent and distributed network architectures that rely more heavily on edge computing. On the company’s read, that shift points to more equipment needs, higher network density, and a larger role for communications infrastructure.
AI traffic push
The company said AI traffic could grow three times faster than traditional wireless traffic and could account for nearly one-third of broadband traffic by 2034, citing CTIA expectations. American Tower said AI-powered devices, agents, connected vehicles, robotics, and real-time applications could create more persistent, interactive, and uplink-intensive traffic.
Supporting those requirements will require additional spectrum and network capacity, as well as lower latency and greater density, the company said. Vondran said AI could extend and deepen the wireless investment cycle beyond traditional traffic forecasts.
What it means for U.S. buyers
For U.S. wireless buyers planning network upgrades, the decision point is less about one traffic driver than the overlap among 5G capacity work, new spectrum, and AI demand. American Tower’s read suggests carriers may keep adding equipment and densifying sites as demand rises, which affects timing for capacity planning and amendment activity. The same mix also points to more attention on latency, uplink, and edge-capable architectures.
Droam Perspective
For tower investors and wireless carriers, the important signal here is not a single new build trigger but the sequencing of several. American Tower is tying 5G densification, the next spectrum cycle, 6G architecture changes, and AI traffic to the same demand curve, which makes the upgrade cycle look less linear than the usual coverage-to-capacity story.