LTE: The LTE eco-system is rapidly developing. 180 operators in 70 countries are currently investing in LTE

WorldWideTech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.
About 180 operators in 70 countries are currently investing in LTE, according to a study by GSA. Nearly 128 firm operators have committed to deploy commercial LTE systems in 52 countries, and a further 52 have pre-committed trials or pilots in an additional eighteen countries.

Seventeen operators have commercially launched LTE networks, in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden, USA and Uzbekistan.

The number of operators investing in LTE in deployments or trials has increased by more than 140 percent over the past twelve months.

The number of countries where LTE systems are deployed or planned has increased by 85 percent in the same period.

At least 64 LTE networks are anticipated will be in commercial service by end 2012.

 LTE operator commitments are developing faster than they did for HSPA, which until now had been the fastest developing mobile communications system.

By comparing the number of operator commitments six months and twelve months after first commercial system launches for HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+ and LTE respectively, LTE proves to be the fastest developing mobile communications system technology ever. Many operators invest in both HSPA+ and LTE.

The success of HSPA/HSPA+ in delivering mobile broadband has fuelled demand to support more customers and provide even higher data throughputs and support for new applications.

The increase in data traffic over the past three years, which is currently supported by HSPA and HSPA+ systems, is driving the interest in deploying LTE as quickly as possible.

The LTE eco-system is rapidly developing. User devices are now coming into the market in increasing numbers and addressing all product segments including USB modems/dongles, PC cards, routers, personal Wi-Fi hotspots, smartphones, tablets and gaming devices.