Telecom Lead India: The global 4G devices sale is
expected to grow 294 percent to 87 million in 2012.
These devices include a range of 4G-enabled smartphones,
tablets, USB dongles, 4G portable hotspots, and wireless broadband CPE modems.
Mobile device vendors are experiencing intense
competitive pressure, which is expected to bring down LTE handset prices, estimated
at 10 to 20 percent over the next two years.
4G devices are expected to generate 87 million in unit
sales in 2012, up 294 percent year-on-year. The lion’s share of the market is
now backing LTE as service provider and vendor support has fallen away from
WiMAX,” said Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting, ABI Research.
Both business and consumer will utilize the 4G. However,
there are still some teething issues that will need to be worked through.
Some operators in Western Europe stated that while
customers do recognize 4G offers higher speeds, they are not necessarily
signing up in droves, as many of them are not prepared to pay the premium for
4G handsets and 4G tariffs.
Interactive/immersive social networking and gaming
experiences, should coax 3G customers to migrate to 4G.
As evidenced by the Australian iPad 3 promotion fiasco,
when iPad 3s were being promoted as being LTE-ready, even though the modem is
unable to access the Australian LTE spectrum band, the number of LTE spectrum
bands will hamper initial pricing and product roll-out.
Nevertheless, in addition to 61 million 4G handsets
being shipped in 2012, we estimate 26 million 4G non-handset products will be
shipped. In the short-term, most of that will reflect customers purchasing USB
dongles for legacy laptops and netbooks, followed by customer premise
equipment, or home modem, purchases,” said Philip Solis, research director,
mobile devices.
