LTE subscriptions set to top 1 billion by the end of the year

The global mobile suppliers association (GSA) has announced that the total of global LTE subscriptions has exceeded three quarters of a billion and is forecast to top a billion by the end of 2015.

Using data provided by analyst firm Ovum, the GSA says LTE net adds continue to outpace all other mobile communication technologies. The grand total as of 30 June 2015 was 755 million subscriptions, of which 113.5 million were added during the quarter. That rate will only need to accelerate slightly for the billion mark to be reached by the end of the year.

“441 million LTE subscriptions were added in the past year, equivalent to 140% annual growth,” said Alan Hadden, VP of Research at the GSA. “For the first time LTE exceeded ten per cent share of the worldwide subs total for all mobile technologies. GSA forecasts over 1 billion LTE subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2015.”

51% of global LTE subscriptions are now accounted for by the APAC region, with North America second on 26% and Europe third on 16%, leaving just 7% for the rest of the world. The GSA does see strong growth in Latin America, however, which has seen its LTE subscribers increase by more than four times over the past year. Russia’s total has increased 3x in that time, as has the Middle East.

Lastly over 30% of global operators are apparently now investing in LTE-A deployments, with two thirds of them having already commercially launched LTE-A service in 45 countries, and most of those supporting Cat 6 devices.