Two-Thirds of World's LTE Connections in U.S./Canada

BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwire - May 2, 2012) - 4G Americas reports that North America continues to dominate the LTE market with 10.8 million LTE subscriptions, more than two-thirds of the global subscriber base as of March 2012, based on preliminary figures from Informa Telecoms & Media. The U.S. has about 10.5 million LTE connections, while Canada contributes nearly 300,000 connections as of the first quarter 2012.

On a global basis, the leading mobile broadband technology, HSPA, with more than 80 percent share of subscriptions in the mobile broadband market today, continues to achieve milestones. There are now 221 commercial HSPA+ networks in 107 countries including 80 commercial HSPA+ Dual-Carrier networks in 46 countries with peak theoretical uplink rates of 42 Mbps.

"The surge is beginning for LTE subscriptions as operators gain new wireless spectrum, deploy infrastructure and offer LTE service," stated Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas. "With over 220 HSPA+ deployments around the world providing fast mobile broadband connections, it is both logical and impressive to see the tremendous momentum of LTE now taking place to provide an even more robust and efficient experience."

Informa's early reports estimate that the Americas region had more than 200 million HSPA and LTE connections at the end of the first quarter of 2012. It is expected that the Americas region will exceed 250 million 3GPP mobile broadband subscriptions by the end of 2012; that number is expected to more than double by 2015, and is forecasted to reach more than 700 million subscriptions by 2016.

Mobile broadband deployments continue to progress in the Americas. To date:

• Latin America has 80 commercial deployments of HSPA in 34 countries, and of those, 36 have been upgraded to HSPA+ in 21 countries. Entel and Movistar in Chile and Personal in Paraguay have deployed HSPA+ Dual-Carrier at peak theoretical uplink speeds of 42 Mbps
  
  
• There are 6 commercial LTE networks in 4 countries in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Uruguay) and Informa expects about 300,000 LTE connections by the end of 2012
  
  
• North America has 17 commercial deployments of HSPA: 7 in the U.S. and 10 in Canada. Of those, 5 have been upgraded to HSPA+ in the U.S. and 8 have been upgraded to HSPA+ in Canada. T-Mobile USA has deployed HSPA+ with Dual-Carrier
  
  
• There are 8 commercial LTE networks in the U.S. and 3 in Canada
  
  

LTE technologies have skyrocketed in deployments and subscriptions on a worldwide basis. Today, LTE is commercial on 74 networks in 40 countries with more than 110 commercial networks expected by the end of 2012. Based upon public announcements, there are more than 334 operators committed to LTE in their future plans: 73 in trial; 187 planned (including 40 more launches in 2012); 59 potential licenses; and 15 licenses awarded. The growth of LTE is only just beginning.

About 4G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Mobile Broadband Technology
4G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment and adoption of the 3GPP family of technologies throughout the Americas. 4G Americas contributes to the successful commercial rollout of 3GPP mobile broadband technologies across the Americas and their place as the No. 1 technology family in the region. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 4G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas. More information is available at www.4gamericas.org.

4G Americas' Board of Governors members include: Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, CommScope, Entel, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Openwave, Powerwave, Qualcomm, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.