BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwired - Mar 10, 2014) - 4G Americas, a wireless trade association representing the 3GPP family of technologies, today announced that LTE connections in North America passed the 100 million mark at the end of 2013 and represent half of all LTE connections worldwide. In North America and Latin America, 3GPP mobile broadband (LTE and HSPA) grew to 417 million connections in one year ending December 2013, and now represents over one third of all mobile connections in the Americas region, based on data from Informa Telecoms & Media.
"LTE subscribers passed 200 million worldwide in December 2013 and North America makes up just over half of this," stated Kristin Paulin, Senior Research Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. "LTE subscribers grew 151 percent year-over-year to end 2013 in North America and LTE is expected to grow at an even faster pace over the next five years in the region."
Western Hemisphere - All Americas - Year-End 2013
In the Americas region, 3GPP mobile broadband subscriptions totaled 417 million, representing 38 percent of all mobile connections in the region with nearly 50 percent annual growth at year-end 2013. 2G GSM technology declined at an annual rate of 9.6 percent with 55 million fewer subscriptions due to the rapid migration to 3GPP mobile broadband.
- 417 million HSPA-LTE subscriptions; annual addition (12 months) of 135 million subscriptions for 48 percent annual growth
- 314 million HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions representing one third of 3GPP subscriptions
- 933 million 3GPP subscriptions; 85 percent mobile technology market share
North America - U.S. and Canada - Year-End 2013
Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas, highlights the success of LTE in North America by stating, "In the U.S. and Canada, LTE forges ahead with 26 percent market share at the end of 2013 on 46 commercial networks to date." Pearson adds, "As LTE is becoming a massively widespread next generation technology, encompassing a wide variety of networks, operators are starting to make the shift towards LTE-Advanced to further increase data speeds, network efficiency and improve connectivity."
- 101 million LTE connections; fourth quarter addition of 22 million LTE connections; 50 percent of global LTE connections
- 46 commercial LTE networks launched to date
- 258+ million LTE connections forecast by YE 2018
- 224 million HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions; annual addition of 59.1 million subscriptions
It is expected that the four national service providers in the U.S. -- AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Sprint and Verizon -- will all deploy LTE-Advanced in 2014. AT&T has deployed LTE-Advanced with Carrier Aggregation in the Chicago market already, though without a commercial announcement and with several other cities on stream, becoming the first such deployment of LTE carrier aggregation in the U.S.
Latin America and Caribbean - Year-End 2013
"Mobile broadband is truly taking flight in Latin America, and in the space of the past several years since HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE networks have begun to proliferate in the region, now over one in four mobile connections is a mobile broadband connection," stated Bob Calaff, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean at 4G Americas.
- HSPA-LTE annual addition of 76 million connections with 25 million subscriptions in fourth quarter; 65 percent annual growth
- 37 commercial LTE networks in 18 countries
- 1.7 million LTE connections at the end of 2013
- Forecast 6.4 million LTE connections at the end of 2014; 82.4 million LTE connections by 2018
- 101 commercial HSPA networks including 75 HSPA+ networks in 37 countries
- 192 million HSPA/HSPA+ connections at end of 2013; market share of 27 percent
- 691 million 3GPP subscriptions; 97 percent market share
Global Statistics - Year-End 2013
"LTE showed significant gains worldwide in 2013 and particularly ramped up in the fourth quarter," commented Pearson, "and that trend will only magnify into 2014."
North America added 22 million new LTE subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2013; Asia Pacific had nearly 11.6 million additions and Western Europe had nearly 5 million additional LTE connections. Compared to the global LTE connections of 200 million, North America contributed more than half and Asia Pacific and Western Europe contributed 78 million and 14 million connections respectively.
- 200 million LTE subscriptions; up from 75 million LTE subscriptions at the end of 2012
- 274 commercial LTE networks in 100 countries
- 7 commercial LTE-Advanced networks in 5 countries (not including AT&T)
- 1.7 billion HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions
- 545 commercial HSPA networks in 200 countries; 358 HSPA+ networks in 153 countries
- 6.8 billion total cellular connections; 6.1 billion 3GPP subscriptions (90 percent market share)
4G Americas maintains current lists of HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE Global Deployments by region on its website. For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.4gamericas.org. Subscriber and forecast 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 advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of the 3GPP family of mobile broadband technologies, including LTE-Advanced, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 4G Americas contributes to the success of 3GPP technologies and their No. 1 place in the region. 4G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. More information is available at www.4gamericas.org.
4G Americas' Board of Governors members include: Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Entel, Ericsson, HP, Mavenir, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Openwave Mobility, Qualcomm, Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.