GSA confirms number of LTE smartphones jump 6-fold in 6 months
January 20, 2012: An update to the Status of the LTE Ecosystem report published today by the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms that 57 manufacturers have announced 269 LTE-enabled user devices, which is 36% higher than the number of devices identified in October 2011.
Alan Hadden, President of the GSA, said: “GSA identified 48 LTE-enabled smartphones are now launched, which is 6 times the number of 6 months ago. The number of LTE-enabled tablets has more than doubled in the same period.â€
The report considers user devices for both FDD and TDD modes, their form factors, operating frequencies, and support for fallback technologies when outside LTE coverage areas (i.e. HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, EV-DO, or TD-SCDMA).
Breakdown by form factor:
31 Modules
18 Tablets
12 Notebooks
2 PC Cards
1 Femtocell
48 Smartphones
101 Routers
56 Dongles
159 LTE devices incorporate HSPA technology, including 54 devices which support 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+ capability. 87 LTE devices can also operate on EV-DO networks.
The report also considered the availability of devices by frequency band and the likely required combinations, which is summarized below for the main LTE bands:
700 MHz (US Digital Dividend, various bands) 142 devices
800 MHz (EU Digital Dividend, Band 20) 52 devices
1800 MHz (Band 3) 50 devices
2600 MHz (Band 7) 65 devices
800/1800/2600 MHz 43 devices
AWS (Band 4) 51 devices
Commercial LTE services are launched in 1800 MHz spectrum (LTE1800) by several operators in Europe, the Middle East, and APAC. There is an excellent choice of LTE1800 devices in the market today. 50 LTE1800 devices have been announced. The number of LTE1800 devices has tripled over the past 6 months.
The report shows how the range of LTE TDD devices is also expanding as operators in all regions are preparing for the commercial introduction of TDD systems. 44 LTE TDD user devices are announced.
The GSA Status of the LTE Ecosystem report (January 20, 2012) is available as a free download to registered site users via the link at
www.gsacom.com (registration page for new site users www.gsacom.com/php/register_form
LTE is the fastest developing mobile system technology ever. According to a related recent GSA report (Evolution to LTE report – January 5, 2012, free download at
285 operators in 93 countries are currently investing in LTE. 226 operators are firmly committed to deploy commercial LTE systems in 76 countries, with a further 59 “pre-commitment†technology trials or pilot networks under evaluation in an additional 17 countries. At that time 49 operators in 21 countries had launched commercial LTE networks.
www.gsacom.com/news/statistics
ABOUT GSA
GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) represents GSM/EDGE/WCDMA-HSPA/LTE suppliers, providing reports, facts, analysis and information explaining market developments and trends. GSA-organized seminars facilitate enhanced dialog between operators, members and developer communities.
GSA member organizations: Aeroflex, AnyDATA Inc, Avvasi, BelAir Networks, Bytemobile, Ericsson, Huawei, inCode, mimoOn, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Qualcomm, Renesas Mobile, Sony Ericsson, SpiderCloud Wireless, ST-Ericsson, Talking Eye, Telcordia Technologies, Velocent Systems
