Expected at some point to be a worldwide phenomenon, the carriers in the Western Hemisphere are currently the leaders in rolling out LTE technologies to consumers.
According to a new report from trade organization 4G Americas, North America represented 87% of all LTE connections at the end of the third quarter, citing data from Informa Telecoms & Media. That represents 3.3 million connections of the estimated 3.8 million LTE connections around the globe.
The report noted that North American operators added 1.5 million LTE subscribers during the third quarter of the year spread across five commercial networks: AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS in the United States, and Bell Wireless/Telus Mobility and Rogers Wireless in Canada. Informa added that it expects 150 million LTE connections across North America by the end of 2016.
4G Americas President Chris Pearson did acknowledge that this leadership position could be short lived due to impending spectrum constraints, with the Asia Pacific region expected to surpass North America in LTE connections by 2013.
4G Americas also highlighted potential growth of LTE in Latin America, with 38 operators in 15 countries having committed to deploying the technology pending the acquisition of spectrum assets. The first LTE deployments are expected to occur by the end of this year or in early 2012, with Colombia’s UNE, Mexico’s Telcel, Puerto Rico’s Claro and Uruguay’s Antel expected to be some of the first to market.
However, some predict the rush to LTE across Latin America could be held up by the need for many operators to still deploy 3G technologies.
“We will see two, three operators launching LTE, but they are few and they aim to position themselves as innovators,” Signals Consulting’s Jose Otero recently told RCR Wireless News. “Operators still have to deploy 3G. In addition, LTE devices are very expensive.”
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
