4G Americas reports that LTE continues to rapidly accelerate with nearly 635 million total connections worldwide as of the first quarter of 2015; a 151 percent increase year-over-year according to Ovum research. North America led the world by increasing its high ranking in LTE market share to 44 percent compared to a global market share for LTE of 9 percent. Latin America led the world in the growth rate of LTE connections with an impressive 396 percent growth increase year-over-year. Key points are summarized in the infographic for 1Q 2015 industry growth statistics.
North America
“North America continues to prove its leadership in LTE with metrics such as population coverage, share of market and penetration,” commented Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas. “This foreshadows the future of mobile broadband in the Americas and the important influence that LTE carries as it helps lay the foundation for 5G in 2020 and beyond.”
LTE has a 44 percent share of market of all mobile wireless connections in North America; this compares to the next highest ranking regions, Western Europe at 16 percent and Asia Pacific at 13 percent. Penetration of LTE in North America is at 50 percent compared to Western Europe at 21 percent and Asia Pacific at 14 percent (penetration represents the number of LTE connections as a percentage of the population). North America far exceeds all other world regions.
LTE-Advanced is now being deployed across operators’ footprints in North America, offering performance and spectral advantages through Carrier Aggregation and customer benefits such as improved speeds.
- 68 commercial LTE networks deployed in U.S. and Canada
- 180 million LTE connections as of March 2015; net gain of 66 million new LTE subscribers during the last 12 months
- LTE connections are forecast to reach 345 million by year-end 2019
- 109 million HSPA and HSPA+ connections with 26 percent market share
Latin America and the Caribbean
As one of the fastest growing mobile broadband markets in the world, Latin America has triumphed in LTE connections with an increase of 396 percent in the past 12 months, a rate that makes Latin America the region with the highest LTE growth rate in the world from 1Q 2014 to 1Q 2015.
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 percent. Latin America gained 70 million new HSPA and HSPA+ connections year-over-year with a market share of 39 percent.
“Starting this year, we are in the midst of a rapid growth phase for LTE in Latin America with almost every country offering commercial LTE technology by at least two service providers,” stated Jose Otero, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean at 4G Americas. “Brazil, Colombia and Mexico continue to hold the lion’s share of LTE lines in the region. However, by the end of the year, there may be several countries with more than 5 percent market share for LTE – with accelerated LTE subscriber adoption in Chile and Peru and the potential in Argentina.”
- 67 commercial LTE networks in 27 countries
- 16 million LTE connections as of March 2015; net gain of 13 million new LTE subscribers during the last 12 months
- LTE connections are forecast to reach 196 million by year-end 2019
- 282 million HSPA and HSPA+ connections; 70 million added year-over-year
LTE and LTE-Advanced Global
LTE has been commercialized on 418 networks across 142 countries today. Operators are beginning to evolve to LTE-Advanced which is already commercialized on 67 networks in 39 countries across the globe.
“With such vast deployments of LTE, it will not be long before we are counting subscriptions in the billions,” noted Chris Pearson. “Ovum estimates that we will reach a billion LTE connections in 2016, only seven years since the first launch of LTE in 2009.”
- 418 commercial LTE networks today in 142 countries
- Over 600 total commitments to LTE deployment by wireless operators to date
- 497 million LTE connections at the end of 2014; 635 million as of March 2015
- LTE connections are forecast to reach 2.5 billion by year-end 2019
- 67 LTE-Advanced commercial networks in 39 countries
4G Americas maintains a current list of LTE Deployments in the Americas and LTE-Advanced Global Deployments on its website. For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.4gamericas.org. Many statistics from the 1Q 2015 are featured in this infographic. All subscriber and forecast data is from Ovum.
