Tablets bundled with 3G and 4G LTE subscriptions will grow more than five times to 247 million in 2018 from 45 million in 2013, said Strategy Analytics.
45 percent of tablets with embedded mobile connectivity had a data plan in 2013, which means only 10 percent of all tablets had a direct mobile broadband connection excluding Wi-Fi connections via tethering.
LTE will account for 92.4 percent of all tablet subscriptions by the end of 2018, overtaking 3G.
The US will add 50 million tablet subscriptions in the next five years; Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T combined added nearly 1.5 million tablet subscriptions in Q1 2014. Both Verizon Wireless and Sprint reported tablet net additions of over 500,000 in the first quarter this year.
Tablets will contribute $26 billion to operator service revenues and generate over five million Terabytes of mobile data traffic in 2018.
Meanwhile, IT market research agency Canalys said growth in worldwide tablet shipments slowed to 21 percent to 50.8 million units in the first quarter of 2014. Tablets accounted for 41 percent of the overall PC market.
Also read: Samsung, Apple lose to Lenovo in Indian tablet market share in Q1 2014
Phil Kendall, executive director, Wireless Operator Strategies, said: “In emerging markets, operators are seeing some success using their own-branded tablets to drive up the total addressable market for 3G / 4G tablets. We are also seeing more comes with data models where device purchase includes a free monthly data allowance, such as HP’s DataPass.”
Earlier ABI Research said 4G LTE will drive 10 percent growth in mobile telecoms capital expenditure (Capex) in Latin America to $6.1 billion. Upgrades and expansion of 3G WCDMA and 4G LTE coverage will result in radio access network-related spending capturing 40 percent of Capex.
“In particular, mobile cellular CTOs are prioritizing investment in the core network functions as Internet packet traffic and value-added 3G and 4G services are playing an increasingly prominent role in the telecom services of the region,” said Jake Saunders, VP for core forecasting at ABI Research.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
