According to research firm Ovum, globally, the long-term-evolution (LTE) 4G subscriber base witnessed a growth of 151 per cent to reach 635 million connections in the first quarter of 2015. Going forward, LTE connections are forecast to reach 2.5 billion by year-end 2019.
The research firm indicates that LTE is currently commercialised on 418 networks across 142 countries. Further, operators are beginning to evolve to LTE-Advanced with nearly 67 commercial networks being in operation in 39 countries across the globe.
The research firm states that LTE has a 44 per cent share of market of all mobile wireless connections in North America as compared to Western Europe at 16 per cent and Asia Pacific at 13 per cent. Penetration of LTE in North America is at 50 per cent compared to Western Europe at 21 per cent and Asia Pacific at 14 per cent.
As of March 2015, about 68 commercial LTE networks have been deployed in the United States (US) and Canada with 180 million LTE connections. Over the last 12 months, together the two countries have added 66 million. In the first quarter of 2015, about 109 million high speed packet access (HSPA) and HSPA+ connections were active in both the US and Canada with a market share of 26 per cent.
Further, Ovum underlines that as one of the fastest growing mobile broadband markets in the world, Latin America has witnessed a growth of 365 per cent in its LTE subscriber base. Latin America added 70 million new HSPA and HSPA+ connections on year-over-year basis with a market share of 39 per cent. HSPA and HSPA+ continue to dominate the mobile broadband connections in the region with a total of 282 million connections and a penetration rate of 45 per cent.
