What is the estimated growth in wireless data usage in the U.S. for the next several years
ses today given the limited coverage and low 5G device penetration, but we don't think that will be the case for long. The 5G network revolution is under way and it's quite possible, perhaps even likely.
The current growth projections for U.S. mobile data usage will prove to be conservative much like what we've seen in the past. The development of 5G-related low-latency applications and services, additional growth from enterprise accounts, and even fixed wireless applications in the home, could all drive usage much higher over time. We expect that the increased availability of spectrum in the marketplace, particularly on the mid-band side will help enable this usage growth going forward.
Spectrum has always been the lifeblood of the wireless industry and given the capacity necessary to provide users a true 5G experience, it is more important today than ever before. Particularly significant, in our view, our mid-band spectrum assets, like 2.5 gig in the newly acquired C-band frequencies, as they provide our customers with a crucial middle ground between the attractive propagation characteristics of low-band spectrum and the deep capacity characteristics of higher band. We believe the results of the most recently completed C-band auction underscore the importance of this spectrum to our customers as they look to monetize the benefits of 5G. Importantly, as the carriers emphasized in their public comments after the auction, we expect this spectrum to be deployed quickly.
The wireless industry is in a strong financial position and numerous steps have been taken by the carrier to, not only fund the upfront purchase price of the spectrum, but also to effectively deploy it. In fact, we are already seeing sizable increases in activity in our own services segment. And consistent with our long-term outlook expectations, we expect to see higher levels of gross new business in our property segment beginning later this year particularly in '22 and beyond. Part of this uptick in activity is in rural area, as stimulus funds from the government support smaller companies to effectively deploy wireless Internet services and as the major operators continue to fill in the white spaces in their network.
The deployment of fixed wireless for households around the country using mid-band spectrum as our customers are planning could also provide further opportunities for us going forward. Taking all of these factors into account, we believe we have a highly attractive, long-term monetization opportunity in front of us. The carriers further identify their network and add more equipment to existing lease sites to support their incremental capacity needs. A significant portion of this growth is locked in to our existing contractual relationships.
Other components of the growth may be more variable, either way, we expect to see higher levels of activity in the marketplace, accompanied by increasing wireless capex spend. On this point, analysts are projecting more than $35 billion in average annual capital spending from our customers over the next several years which would represent industry record. Put that in perspective, that average annual rate is more than double what the carriers spent back when 2G was actually deployed. While each of our customers have slightly different strategies to deploy 5G, we are confident that they will be successful in doing so.
We also believe that our macro tower-oriented U.S. portfolio of over thousand sites is optimally positioned to benefit from these accelerating deployment. Macro sites continue to be, by far, the most cost-effective RF-efficient network engineering option and are also optimally located to help deliver coverage and capacity for hundreds of millions of people nationwide. As a result, we continue to believe that the vast majority of mid-band deployments in the U.S.
for the foreseeable future will be on macro towers. As our network infrastructure was ideally suited for our customers' needs for 2G, 3G, and 4G, we have no reason to believe that 5G will be any different. While we do expect to be unique 
ses today given the limited coverage and low 5G device penetration, but we don't think that will be the case for long. The 5G network revolution is under way and it's quite possible, perhaps even likely.
The current growth projections for U.S. mobile data usage will prove to be conservative much like what we've seen in the past. The development of 5G-related low-latency applications and services, additional growth from enterprise accounts, and even fixed wireless applications in the home, could all drive usage much higher over time. We expect that the increased availability of spectrum in the marketplace, particularly on the mid-band side will help enable this usage growth going forward.
Spectrum has always been the lifeblood of the wireless industry and given the capacity necessary to provide users a true 5G experience, it is more important today than ever before. Particularly significant, in our view, our mid-band spectrum assets, like 2.5 gig in the newly acquired C-band frequencies, as they provide our customers with a crucial middle ground between the attractive propagation characteristics of low-band spectrum and the deep capacity characteristics of higher band. We believe the results of the most recently completed C-band auction underscore the importance of this spectrum to our customers as they look to monetize the benefits of 5G. Importantly, as the carriers emphasized in their public comments after the auction, we expect this spectrum to be deployed quickly.
The wireless industry is in a strong financial position and numerous steps have been taken by the carrier to, not only fund the upfront purchase price of the spectrum, but also to effectively deploy it. In fact, we are already seeing sizable increases in activity in our own services segment. And consistent with our long-term outlook expectations, we expect to see higher levels of gross new business in our property segment beginning later this year particularly in '22 and beyond. Part of this uptick in activity is in rural area, as stimulus funds from the government support smaller companies to effectively deploy wireless Internet services and as the major operators continue to fill in the white spaces in their network.
The deployment of fixed wireless for households around the country using mid-band spectrum as our customers are planning could also provide further opportunities for us going forward. Taking all of these factors into account, we believe we have a highly attractive, long-term monetization opportunity in front of us. The carriers further identify their network and add more equipment to existing lease sites to support their incremental capacity needs. A significant portion of this growth is locked in to our existing contractual relationships.
 Other components of the growth may be more variable, either way, we expect to see higher levels of activity in the marketplace, accompanied by increasing wireless capex spend. On this point, analysts are projecting more than $35 billion in average annual capital spending from our customers over the next several years which would represent industry record. Put that in perspective, that average annual rate is more than double what the carriers spent back when 2G was actually deployed. While each of our customers have slightly different strategies to deploy 5G, we are confident that they will be successful in doing so.
We also believe that our macro tower-oriented U.S. portfolio of over thousand sites is optimally positioned to benefit from these accelerating deployment. Macro sites continue to be, by far, the most cost-effective RF-efficient network engineering option and are also optimally located to help deliver coverage and capacity for hundreds of millions of people nationwide. As a result, we continue to believe that the vast majority of mid-band deployments in the U.S.
for the foreseeable future will be on macro towers. As our network infrastructure was ideally suited for our customers' needs for 2G, 3G, and 4G, we have no reason to believe that 5G will be any different. While we do expect to be unique 