GSA confirms LTE connects 1 in 5 mobile subscribers worldwide: Q2 2016
September 8 2016: GSA, the Global mobile Suppliers Association, confirms that LTE is growing faster than any other mobile communications system technology. 19.5% of the global mobile base were connected to LTE systems by June 30, 2016.
LTE subscriptions reached 1.453 billion in Q2 2016 with 160.3 million net connections coming in Q2 2016. The rate of connections is about 4 times faster than 3G/HSPA systems. 3G/HSPA subscriptions grew by 40.5 million while GSM subscriptions fell 101.6 million in the same quarter.
Analysing mobile subscriptions data provided to GSA by Ovum Ltd for Q2 2016, GSA reports that over 684 million LTE subscriptions worldwide were gained over the past 12 months, which is equivalent to 89% annual growth.
Alan Hadden, Vice President, GSA said: “GSA now predicts that the number of LTE and LTE-Advanced subscriptions worldwide will pass the 3G/WCDMA-HSPA global total in 2019.”
The Asia region, with over 838 million LTE subscriptions, further grew its share of global LTE subscriptions quarter-on-quarter to reach 57.7%. Within the APAC figure, by June 2016 China had passed 591 million LTE subscriptions, adding 80.3 million in the quarter. North America is the second largest LTE market with 268.4 million and 18.5% of the global total. After APAC the European region gained the most LTE subscriptions during Q2 by adding 20.5 million and slightly growing its global share of the total to 14.1%.
The Latin America and Caribbean region added 13.3 million to reach 81.9 million 4G/LTE subscriptions, representing 19.4% growth. The Middle East has over 50 million LTE subscriptions following a 10% rise in Q2. Russia has 19.6 million LTE subscriptions. Africa, now with over 10 million LTE subscriptions, is the fastest growing region by percentage, following a 22.4% increase in Q2. India has 5.5 million LTE subscriptions.
Market shares summary:
Asia region 57.7%
North America 18.5%
Europe 14.1%
Latin American and Caribbean 5.6%
MEA 4.1%
521 operators have commercially launched LTE or LTE-Advanced systems in 170 countries, according to GSA data announced in July 2016. GSA forecasts there will be at least 560 commercially launched LTE networks by end 2016. 5,614 LTE user devices were announced by June 24, 2016 according to another GSA report.
More than 1 in 3 operators are investing in LTE-Advanced system deployments. Over 28% of LTE operators have commercially launched LTE-Advanced service. Several LTE operators have introduced LTE-Advanced Pro technologies, which is now a major industry trend. Some LTE-Advanced Pro systems are expected to support peak downlink speeds up to 1 Gbps by the end of this year.
Charts (PDF and jpeg formats) confirming LTE subscriptions growth and regional shares are available via the GSA website http://www.gsacom.com
ABOUT GSA
GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) represents GSM/EDGE/WCDMA-HSPA/HSPA+, LTE/LTE-Advanced and future 5G suppliers. GSA brings together a global industry community of telecoms professionals through its website, reports, information papers and practical activities to inform, influence, educate, explain and promote the opportunities enabled by mobile broadband systems.
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