Telecom operators’ investment in LTE networks has assisted subscriber base to reach 908 million by adding approximately 152 million in Q3 2015 alone against 757 million in Q2 2015.
There are 435 commercial LTE networks and 104 LTE-Advanced commercial networks in 51 countries.
LTE connections are expected to reach 3.6 billion by 2020.
North America has 4G LTE subscriber base of 219 million or 51 percent of the total 431 million mobile connections in the third quarter of 2015, said 4G Americas.
Main wireless players who are driving the 4G growth in America include AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
The 4G subscriber base in Latin America grew nearly 350 percent in the last 12 months. The LTE and 3G or HSPA mobile broadband connections represent nearly half of all mobile connections in Latin America.
Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas, said: “The LTE-Advanced roadmap leading to the evolution of 5G contains significant technical innovations that will benefit carriers and their subscribers. LTE-Advanced will provide the mobile broadband foundation for future 5G networks.”
LTE’s share in the total mobile broadband market in the U.S. is 51 percent and 55 percent in Canada. HSPA and HSPA+ still holds a 23 percent market share bringing the combined market share for LTE and HSPA mobile broadband in the region to 74 percent.
North America has a LTE penetration of 61 percent, Western Europe has 27 percent and Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia 21 percent 4G reach.
Telecom operators in the U.S. and Canada have deployed 68 commercial LTE networks.
T&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Redzone Wireless in the US and Bell Mobility, Rogers and Telus in Canada have deployed commercial LTE-Advanced networks.
Spectrum boost 4G
Jose Otero, director of Latin America and the Caribbean at 4G Americas, said that the allocation of spectrum for mobile services has been catalytic for the growth of LTE in Latin America and the Caribbean.
One year after the allocation of new spectrum in Argentina, the country is close to having 10 percent LTE penetration.
Telecom operator’s investment in LTE and HSPA has assisted Latin America region to have a mobile broadband market share of 49 percent with 358 million connections of the total 733 million mobile connections. Latin America added 74 million new HSPA and HSPA+ connections.
The 4G Americas report is silent about Asian telecom operators such as China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom and Indian telecoms such as Bharti Airtel.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
