LTE connections have reached 200 million in 2013, said 4G Americas. Out of this, North America has 100 million LTE connections, representing half of the worldwide subscribers.
In North America and Latin America, 3GPP mobile broadband (LTE and HSPA) grew to 417 million connections in 2013, and now represents over one third of all mobile connections in the Americas region.
3GPP in the Americas region is representing 38 percent of all mobile connections in the region with nearly 50 percent annual growth at year-end 2013. 2G GSM technology declined 9.6 percent with 55 million fewer subscriptions due to the migration to 3GPP mobile broadband.
LTE subscribers grew 151 percent in North America and LTE is expected to grow at an even faster pace over the next five years in the region.
2G GSM technology declined at an annual rate of 9.6 percent with 55 million fewer subscriptions due to the rapid migration to 3GPP mobile broadband.
There were 417 million HSPA-LTE subscriptions; annual addition (12 months) of 135 million subscriptions for 48 percent annual growth.
There were 314 million HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions representing one third of 3GPP subscriptions.
There were 933 million 3GPP subscriptions; 85 percent mobile technology market share.
It is expected that the four telecom service providers in the U.S.— AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Sprint and Verizon— will deploy LTE-Advanced in 2014.
AT&T has deployed LTE-Advanced with Carrier Aggregation in the Chicago market already, though without a commercial announcement and with several other cities on stream, becoming the first such deployment of LTE carrier aggregation in the U.S.
North America added 22 million new LTE subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2013; Asia Pacific had nearly 11.6 million additions and Western Europe had nearly 5 million additional LTE connections.
Compared to the global LTE connections of 200 million, North America contributed more than half and Asia Pacific and Western Europe contributed 78 million and 14 million connections respectively, said 4G Americas.
Global LTE statistics
200 million LTE subscriptions; up from 75 million LTE subscriptions at the end of 2012
274 commercial LTE networks in 100 countries
7 commercial LTE-Advanced networks in 5 countries (not including AT&T)
1.7 billion HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions
545 commercial HSPA networks in 200 countries; 358 HSPA+ networks in 153 countries
6.8 billion total cellular connections; 6.1 billion 3GPP subscriptions (90 percent market share)
North American LTE statistics
101 million LTE connections; fourth quarter addition of 22 million LTE connections; 50 percent of global LTE connections
46 commercial LTE networks launched to date
258+ million LTE connections forecast by YE 2018
224 million HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions; annual addition of 59.1 million subscriptions
