LTE Achieves 39 Percent Market Share Worldwide

LTE Achieves 39 Percent Market Share Worldwide
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LTE technology, the most widely used wireless cellular technology worldwide, achieved more than 38.5 percent market share in the first quarter of 2018 providing 4G wireless access to a large portion of the world’s population with 3.2 billion global connections, according to data from Ovum.

North America’s market share for LTE at 76 percent exceeds all other world regions; the next highest world regions are Oceania, Eastern and South Eastern Asia with LTE share of 59 percent followed by Western Europe at 46 percent. Latin America and the Caribbean had significant growth of LTE market share to 31.5 percent at the end of 1Q 2018.

LTE is currently deployed on 597 networks worldwide of which 251 are LTE-Advanced (TeleGeography-GlobalComms Database). The global deployment success of LTE provides the basis for mobile broadband wireless coverage and roaming for the billions of LTE subscribers worldwide.

LTE achieved 365 million connections and a penetration rate higher than 100 percent in March 2018 compared to the population of 364 million in the U.S and Canada. There will be no other region worldwide predicted to reach 100 percent penetration for LTE prior to the end of 2019. This penetration rate is forecast to rise to 131 percent in 2021 after which time new 5G connections will begin to impact LTE subscriptions and penetration rates.

At the end of March 2018, the next highest world regions were: Oceania, Eastern and South Eastern Asia at 76 percent; Western Europe at 62 percent; and then a substantial drop to Eastern Europe at 37 percent, Middle East at 36 percent and Latin America & the Caribbean at 34 percent.

In addition to having a significantly higher penetration rate, the U.S. and Canada also have the highest market share for LTE in comparison to all mobile wireless technologies with 76 percent. Market share represents the percentage of mobile wireless connections that are LTE technology versus all other mobile wireless technologies.

At the end of March 2018, global LTE connections reached 3.2 billion; LTE is forecast to achieve 4 billion connections in 2019 and pass 5 billion connections in 2021. This growth is phenomenal, more than doubling from 1.5 billion LTE connections in June 2016 in two years’ time to 3 billion. Also, notable- LTE market share reached 38.5 percent at the end of March 2018 and will continue its aggressive rise over the coming years.