Shift to 4G networks faster than previous generations

The rapid take-up means that more than one in eight mobile connections will use superfast 4G networks within the next four years, up from just 176m connections at the end of 2013.

The technology, also known as LTE, offers rapid internet speeds rivalling fixed-line broadband networks, opening up a host of new applications and services for smartphone providers.

Almost 500 LTE networks are forecast to be in service across 128 countries by 2017, roughly double the number of LTE networks today.

The GSMA said the shift to 4G networks will be faster than the corresponding move from 2G to 3G technology over the past decade. Networks using 3G technology were initially slow to be adopted, in part owing to the expense of the spectrum acquired to use the networks in regions such as Europe and lack of smartphones and other connected devices.

The GSMA highlighted a number of factors driving the growth of 4G, such as the more efficient allocation of spectrum to mobile operators, the availability of affordable suitable devices and the implementation of tariffs designed to encourage adoption of high-speed data services.

The study calculates that about a fifth of the global population is within 4G network coverage range, which will rise to about half of the world’s population by 2017. In the US, LTE networks already cover more than 90 per cent of the population and account for almost half of global connections.

However, Asia will grow to account for almost half of all LTE connections by 2017 as networks are rolled out in major markets such as China and India.

China, the world’s largest mobile telecoms market, will be officially open to superfast mobile services next month when China Mobile begins selling 4G tariffs in Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing.

China Mobile, the country’s largest mobile group with about 750m mobile subscribers, is expected to be granted a 4G licence in December. The state-backed group has been running trial services in cities in China.

China’s government wants to catch up with the advances seen in countries such as South Korea, which is the most advanced mobile market in the world given half of total mobile connections are running on LTE networks.

The GSMA study also found that LTE users consume 1.5GB of data a month on average, almost twice the average amount consumed by non-LTE users. In developed markets, operators have found that LTE can generate an average revenue per user uplift of between 10 and 40 per cent.

“Since the launch of the first commercial 4G-LTE networks in late 2009 we are seeing deployments accelerate across the globe,” said Hyunmi Yang, chief strategy officer at the GSMA. “Our findings show that the global LTE market is at a tipping point.”

The shift to fourth-generation networks will be faster than the take-up of previous generations of mobile technology in most parts of the world, marking an unprecedented shift in mobile communications.

The number of superfast mobile internet connections worldwide is forecast to pass 1bn by 2017, according to the GSMA, the organisation that represents the interest of mobile operators worldwide.

source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/955141e4-55e0-11e3-b6e7-00144feabdc0.html