1Q 2016: North America posts quarter of a billion LTE connections

Latin America a Top Growth Market for LTE

BELLEVUE, Wash. – June 13, 2016 – 5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced mobile subscriber data for the first quarter of 2016 which included an industry milestone with LTE connections reaching over a quarter of a billion in North America according to data gathered by Ovum. Latin America and the Caribbean showed significant LTE growth rates as the second fastest growing region of all the regions in the world, having grown 268 percent year-over-year, only surpassed by the combined Central and Southern Asia region.

“Even though 5G has captured the minds of the industry, LTE continues to grow at a tremendous rate. LTE will be the mobile broadband foundation for 5G as coverage increases and by its continued evolution with new inventive technical features to connect people and machines,” commented Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas.

North America

“On a worldwide basis, wireless subscriptions of all technologies grew 3.4 percent year-over-year, while North America grew by 6.9 percent and even more notably there was a 7.2 percent growth rate in the U.S.,” stated Kristin Paulin, Senior Analyst, Ovum. “LTE has hit the Americas region full-steam. LTE, and in a small part HSPA, are the only technologies growing in the entire Western Hemisphere.”

LTE connections in North America reached 253 million which covers more than half or 57 percent of all mobile connections in the region. This data compares to the next leading world regional markets of Oceania & Asia Pacific with 33 percent and Western Europe with 26 percent market share for LTE. Penetration of LTE in the U.S. was 73 percent based on the country’s population of about 322 million.

• 69 commercial LTE networks deployed in U.S. and Canada
• 253 million LTE connections as of March 2016 for net gain of 67 million new LTE customers in the last 12 months and a 36 percent growth rate
• 7 commercial LTE-Advanced networks
• 90.1 million HSPA connections for net loss of 12.3 million HSPA connections year-over-year with the trend of upgrades to LTE
• LTE is forecast to reach 391 million connections at the end of 2020 (forecast does not include M2M)

Latin America

“There have been three key drivers for LTE growth in Latin America during the last 12 months: increased geographic coverage of the technology, launch of services by new operators, and greater availability of lower cost devices,” noted Jose Otero, 5G Americas Director of Latin America and the Caribbean. “Although Uruguay, Chile and Argentina continue leading the region on LTE penetration, the near future will show higher adoption rates in Costa Rica and Panama.”

Latin America and the Caribbean has the second fastest growth rate for LTE worldwide in the 1Q 2016, with a rate of 268 percent compared to the leading region of Central and Southern Asia with 352 percent growth.

• 77 commercial LTE networks in 30 countries
• 69 million LTE connections as of March 2016; growth of 268 percent year-over-year
• 332 million HSPA connections; 47 million added year-over-year
• 2 LTE-Advanced networks
• LTE is forecast to reach 277 million connections at the end of 2020 (forecast does not include M2M)

Global LTE & LTE-Advanced

As a whole, LTE has grown 100% year-over-year. Thus, LTE has doubled in connections worldwide to 1.29 billion at the end of 1Q 2016 compared to 645 million at 1Q 2015.

LTE-Advanced is also gaining momentum globally; currently 118 networks in 57 countries have deployed the technology, more than doubling from 54 networks in 35 countries at year-end 2014.

• 1.29 billion LTE connections; more than double 645 million at March 2015
• LTE connections forecast to reach close to four billion by year-end 2020 (forecast does not include M2M)
• LTE global market share forecast to reach 45 percent by 2020
• 118 LTE-Advanced commercial networks in 57 countries
• 7.4 billion total cellular connections worldwide
• LTE is forecast at 1.6 billion connections by the end of 2016 increasing to 3.8 billion connections by the end of 2020 when LTE connections will exceed global UMTS/HSPA connections for the first time

5G Americas maintains a current list of LTE and LTE-Advanced deployments in the Americas on its website. For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.5gamericas.org. Subscriber and forecast data is provided by Ovum.