According to ABI Research, the number of global long term evolution (LTE) subscriptions reached 229.7 million in 2013. The research firm forecasts LTE subscriptions to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 43.6 per cent between 2013 and 2019 and reach over 2 billion.
Further, long-term evolution- division duplex (LTE-FD) technology accounted for the 94.2 per cent of the LTE market in 2013. The remaining share of the market was accounted by LTE-time-division technology (LTE-TD). Region-wise, Asia-Pacific and North America had a market share of 49 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively. In other markets such as Asia, mass LTE network deployment and cost-competitive smartphones are driving the growth in the LTE space.
The research firm forecasts that the number of LTE-Advanced subscribers will grow to 750 million in 2019 accounting for 37.3 per cent of overall LTE subscribers. North America will witness the highest growth in the number of LTE-Advanced subscribers, followed by Asia-Pacific and Western Europe. According to the research firm, the growth in LTE subscribers has also boosted operators? average per user as LTE users spend 35 per cent more money on data services as compared to their 3G and 2G counterparts.
ABI research concludes that to revive traditional voice service revenues, a number of operators are focusing on launching voice over LTE services.
