The European Commission threw water on claims of mobile data superiority claimed by some European operators, noting in a report that three-fourths of the continents population does not have access to LTE services. The EC added that by comparison, more than 90% of consumers in the United States have access to the latest mobile technology.
According to the EC, only Germany, Estonia and Sweden have “advanced roll-out of ‘4G;’” there is “virtually no ‘4G’ coverage in rural areas” across the European Union; three member states – Cyprus, Ireland and Malta – have no LTE service at all; and that Europe accounts for only 5% of global ‘4G’ connections.
Vodafone recently announced that 15% of data traffic across its European networks was running through LTE connections, while domestic operator Verizon Wireless claims more than half of its data traffic is on its LTE network. Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao also seemed to downplay the notion of superior LTE coverage in the United States when answering an analyst question following Vodafone’s most recent quarterly results.
“It seems to me that if you look at our statistics of usage on 3G and performance, if you compare to the U.S. average data experience, Europe is much more advanced,” Colao said, including taking a swipe at his recent experience accessing AT&T Mobility’s network in rural parts of the country. “So, I am not sure I understand where and what much more investment would create a benefit given the fact that today, I regularly have in Rome, in London, in Dusseldorf, six, seven, eight, nine megabits per second on my iPad and on my smartphone. Having said that, I am not in the opposite camp, which is the camp of people who say you shouldn’t invest because in any case, it doesn’t make any difference. So, as I said, constant investment, continuous upgrade of our network; now half of our network is at 43 Mbps which is not the case of the U.S. networks of the old generation; and getting to a target of … 40%-50% LTE by 2015, I think is the right thing to do in Europe.”
Of course, the EC was quick to deflect blame from the organization, noting “the EU has made huge amounts of spectrum available to meet the needs of high-speed wireless broadband.”
“However, spectrum is actually allocated at the national level,” the report noted. “National level problems have caused procedural and licensing delays, while auctioning processes have left mobile operators with little cash for roll-out networks once they have secured the right to do so. Combined with the fragmentation of 28 national markets, it means the mobile operators have no real possibility to develop and EU-wide mobile strategy. The consequence is that users suffer and the EU lags behind in the global ‘4G’ race.”
In addition, the EC claimed wireless carriers were being forced to pay too much for wireless spectrum needed to support LTE services, something that was noted for 3G services more than a decade ago. Some countries have moved forward with allowing carriers to re-farm some of their spectrum holdings set aside to support 2G and 3G services in order to offer LTE services.
“I’m on the side of the citizens, the taxpayers, the voters, who just want their phones and tablets to work,” said EC VP Neelie Kroes in a statement. “It’s frustrating when my phone stops working in Brussels because we only have 3G. Millions share my frustration every day.”
In the United States, Verizon Wireless recently announced it had reached near parity with LTE coverage in relation to its legacy 3G network; while AT&T said it expects to have near-nationwide coverage by the middle of next year; and T-Mobile US and Sprint have said they expect to have 200 million potential customers covered with LTE by the end of this year.
U.S. wireless trade association CTIA was quick to pounce on the EC report, with CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent writing in a blog post his thoughts on the announcement.
“While I certainly feel badly for our European friends since they cannot enjoy the blazing fast mobile Internet speeds, this is one of the many ways the U.S. wireless industry excels,” Largent said. “It’s also why other countries are striving to emulate us.”
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