The latest update of the Evolution to LTE report from GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms that 222 operators have commercially launched LTE services in 83 countries. 109 LTE networks were commercially launched in the past 12 months.
The report confirms that 474 operators are investing in LTE in 138 countries. This is made up of 421 firm operator commitments to build LTE networks in 128 countries, plus 53 additional operators engaged in various trials, studies, etc. in a further 10 countries.
From amongst the committed operators, 222 have commercially launched networks in 83 countries. GSA forecasts there will be 260 commercial LTE networks in 93 countries by end 2013.
The report includes an extended list of operators who have commercially launched, or are deploying or planning enhancements to their networks including multicarrier support for Category 4 operation (150 Mbps peak downlink throughput speed), and LTE-Advanced features, particularly carrier aggregation.
The majority of LTE operators have deployed the FDD mode of the standard. The most widely used band in network deployments continues to be 1800 MHz (band 3) which is used in 43% of commercially launched LTE networks. The next most popular contiguous bands are 2.6 GHz (band 7) used in 30% of networks, followed by 800 MHz (band 20) which is used in over 12% of networks today.
Interest in the TDD mode is strengthening and global. 23 LTE TDD systems are commercially launched in 18 countries, of which 11 that have been deployed in combined LTE FDD & TDD operations.
GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) represents GSM/EDGE, WCDMA-HSPA and LTE suppliers, providing reports, facts, analysis and information explaining market developments and trends.
