BELLEVUE, WASH. – With the addition of 58 million HSPA and LTE mobile broadband connections in the U.S. and Canada in the first quarter of 2013, mobile broadband now makes up 49% of all mobile connections in the U.S. and Canada, according to research by Informa Telecoms & Media.
Worldwide, LTE usage grew by more than 400% at the end of March 2013, ending the quarter with more than 90 million connections. By May 2013 that number grew to more than 100 million connections.
According to the report, commissioned by 4G Americas, an industry trade organization of telecommunications service providers and manufacturers, the number of commercial LTE networks globally has more than doubled, with 178 commercial networks in 72 countries compared to about 74 commercial networks in 40 countries one year ago – that’s more than 100 newly launched LTE networks in 12 months.
LTE has seen exponential growth in the U.S. and Canada where subscriptions surpassed 49 million and the North American region represents 54 percent of all global LTE connections as of March 2013.
HSPA and LTE mobile broadband had strong accelerated growth worldwide with an annual addition of 348 million subscriptions, representing 87% of the 400 million new global 3GPP technology connections.
“Innovations in technology and service providers’ commitment to upgrading their networks to LTE has moved the U.S. and Canada to the current mobile broadband leadership position. However, the leadership of LTE in North America is fragile, as more spectrum allocations by governments are needed soon to alleviate the impending spectrum crunch,” said Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas in a release.
Other findings for first quarter of 2013 from the research include:
Global
- 6.5 billion mobile connections; 90% using 3GPP technologies
- More than 400 million annual new 3GPP connections, including 348 million annual new mobile broadband HSPA and LTE connections (in the 12 months ending March 2013)
- 331 HSPA+ commercial networks in 130 countries today, including: 194 at 21 Mbps; 5 at 28 Mbps; 132 at 42 Mbps
- 178 commercial LTE networks today; over 230 commercial LTE networks expected by the end of 2013
- Over 300 total commitments to LTE deployment by network operators to date
- By 2018, HSPA will consume 65% market share, or 4.3 billion of global mobile broadband subscriptions; LTE will hold 21% of the market share with 1.4 billion subscriptions
North America
- HSPA and LTE mobile broadband achieved 181 million connections with annualized growth of 47%
- HSPA and LTE added 58 million connections in the year ending March 2013 with 49 percent market share; by the end of 2018, this market share for HSPA and LTE will increase to 82 percent
- 27 commercial LTE networks deployed
- 49 million LTE connections, representing 54% of global LTE connections; forecast 61 million LTE connections at the end of 2013
- LTE represents 24% market share of all 3GPP technologies in the region
