LTE Infrastructure Forecasts Up, Along With Operator Commitments To LTE Networks

HSPA+ has become the clear bridge between 3G (e.g., W-CDMA and CDMA2000) and LTE, according to a new survey. Current networks won't disappear anytime soon and early LTE networks will only carry data while voice services will fall back to circuit switched networks before LTE deployments start to ramp up in 2012. LTE is at a very early stage with HSPA/HSPA+ rollouts, which are poised to enjoy a long tail.

Report highlights: LTE infrastructure and subscribers:

--  The forecast for the worldwide LTE infrastructure market has increased: expect it to grow roughly 10-fold from 2010 to 2014, to $11.5 billion
--  The market is fueled by macrocell eNodeB deployments and the rapidly growing number of operators committing to LTE
--  Infonetics increased its LTE subscriber forecast as well, now anticipating close to 165 million worldwide by 2014

Highlights: LTE deployment strategies survey:

--  By the end of 2010, a dozen LTE networks are expected to go live, and there are currently over 100 commitments by service providers around the world to deploy LTE networks
--  72 percent of operators Infonetics surveyed about their LTE deployment plans say they will follow the W-CDMA-to-HSPA+-to-LTE deployment path
--  94 percent of operators surveyed will deploy IMS (voice over LTE, or VoLTE), and 39 percent expect to launch a voice service over LTE one year from network launch

About the survey:  For the LTE Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey, Infonetics interviewed roughly one-quarter of the number of operators that had committed to deploy LTE as of August 2010. Respondents are purchase decision-makers at service providers in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), North America, and Asia-Pacific that together represent 46 percent of the world's telecom carrier revenue and 47 percent of telecom capex. The survey asked incumbent, competitive, and mobile operators about their LTE network buildout plans, deployment migration scenarios, challenges, technical and commercial drivers, and LTE services, features, and devices they plan to offer.

Contact: http://www.infonetics.com/