Year-End 2012: 50 Percent Growth in Mobile Broadband in the Americas

BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwire - Mar 7, 2013) - 4G Americas, a wireless trade association representing the 3GPP family of technologies, today announced that subscriptions to 3GPP mobile broadband technologies (HSPA and LTE) grew 50 percent in the Americas region to 274 million connections in one year ending December 2012, based on data from Informa Telecoms & Media.

"3GPP mobile broadband subscriptions grew 50 percent year-over-year to end-2012 and now account for 32 percent of all 3GPP subscriptions in the Americas," stated Kristin Paulin, Senior Research Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "Although GSM still accounts for the bulk of 3GPP subscriptions in the Americas, the GSM subscription base decreased 2 percent year-over-year to end-2012. Users are actively migrating to LTE and UMTS- HSPA, which grew by 467 percent and 34 percent respectively."

Western Hemisphere - All Americas - Year-End 2012

• 848 million 3GPP subscriptions; 81 percent market share
• 236.5 million HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions; quarterly addition of more than 13 million subscribers
• 274 million HSPA-LTE subscriptions; annual addition (12 months) of 91 million subscriptions for 50 percent annual growth
• LTE subscriptions grew from 6.6 million at year-end 2011 to 37.67 million at year-end 2012

Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas, emphasized the importance of mobile broadband in the region with North America's leadership position. "The North American market has more than half of all global LTE connections with 55 percent market share at the end of 2012 and 23 commercial networks to date. LTE is opening up a wide variety of mobile applications and services in consumer and enterprise markets while operators are investing heavily in major network expansions." 

North America - U.S. and Canada - Year-End 2012

• 195 million 3GPP subscriptions; 53 percent market share
• 160 million HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions; annual addition of 51.6 million subscriptions
• 37.6 million LTE connections; quarterly addition of 14 million LTE connections; 55 percent of global LTE connections
• 23 commercial LTE networks launched to date, including Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless in Canada and AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint and Verizon with affiliates in the U.S.
• 200+ million LTE connections forecast by 2017

"Latin America is coming on strong with HSPA+ and LTE deployments offering connectivity to the internet and data services to a wide portion of the region," Pearson added. "Tremendous investment and economic impact is being created by leading operators who have contributed significantly to broadband throughout the region."

Latin America and Caribbean - Year-End 2012

• 654 million 3GPP subscriptions; 96 percent market share; annual addition of 52 million connections; quarterly addition of 11.5 million subscriptions
• 14 commercial LTE networks in Antigua & Barbuda, Bolivia, Brazil (2), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay (2), Puerto Rico (4) and Uruguay
• 40 commercial LTE expected networks by 2015
• 98,000 LTE connections at the end of 2012
• Forecast 2 million LTE connections at the end of 2013; 30 million LTE connections by 2017
• 81 commercial HSPA networks including 51 HSPA+ networks in 26 countries
• 114 million HSPA/HSPA+ connections at end of 2012; market share of 17 percent

Global Statistics - Year-End 2012

• 6.4 billion total cellular connections
• 5.8 billion 3GPP subscriptions (90 percent market share)
• More than 1.2 billion HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions
• 506 commercial HSPA networks in 188 countries
• 291 HSPA+ networks in 123 countries
• 68.3 million LTE subscriptions; up from 45.1 million LTE subscriptions at the end of 3Q 2012
• 151 commercial LTE networks in 67 countries

For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.4gamericas.org. All subscriber data is from Informa Telecoms & Media World Cellular Information Service (WCIS).

About 4G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Mobile Broadband Technology
4G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment and adoption of the 3GPP family of technologies throughout the Americas. 4G Americas contributes to the successful commercial rollout of 3GPP mobile broadband technologies across the Americas and their place as the No. 1 technology family in the region. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 4G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas. More information is available at www.4gamericas.org.

4G Americas' Board of Governors members include: Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, BlackBerry, Cable & Wireless, CommScope, Entel, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Nokia Siemens Networks, Openwave, Powerwave, Qualcomm, Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.

About Informa Telecoms & Media
Informa Telecoms & Media (ITM; www.informatm.com) conducts primary and secondary research on the latest trends impacting the mobile communications, fixed communications and TV sectors, on a global basis. ITM's market intelligence services -- World Cellular Information Service (WCIS), World Broadband Information Service (WBIS) and the Intelligence Centre -- give clients access to market forecasts and key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as detailed analysis and exploration of trends. These comprehensive and reliable data sources combined with access to a team of dedicated analysts provide clients with essential business tools to assist in their strategic and tactical decision making processes. ITM also organizes over 100 annual events bringing together the industry's leading decision makers.