The Asia & Pacific region is poised to overtake North America this year in number of 4G/LTE subscribers, thanks to large gains in South Korea and Japan, according to Parks Associates.

Parks Associates' new report finds Asia & Pacific will claim over 53% of all 4G/LTE subscribers by the end the year, helping push the total number of subscribers over 560 million globally by 2016.

"Fifteen carriers in Asia & Pacific now have live LTE services, with affordable pricing models that prompt robust subscriber growth in this region," said Harry Wang, Director, Digital Health and Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Mobile operators worldwide have committed to 4G/LTE as the network technology of the future, but financial conditions, handset costs, and spectrum license availability will all influence the pace and scope of regional deployments."

Parks Associates research:

• Global 4G/LTE subscribership will increase from 9 million in 2011 to over 560 million in 2016.
• In 2016, 4G/LTE subscribers will account for 8.8% of worldwide mobile subscriptions.
• More than 50% of U.S. broadband households have at least one smartphone.
• 61% of U.S. mobile phone users have some knowledge of the term "4G," but only 20% understand the term "LTE."
• As of June 2012, 83 carriers have launched LTE networks in 43 countries; 40 more carriers intend to deploy LTE by year end.

"Deciphering optimal mobile data pricing schemes is an important piece of operators' monetization efforts, and many are experimenting with their mobile data pricing plans," said Jennifer Kent, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. "Verizon Wireless recently introduced its ShareEverything plan, which allows users to share one data quota across multiple mobile broadband devices. Share data plans should encourage subscribers to add more mobile devices, while offering unlimited text messaging mitigates the threat of third-party messaging services like Whatsapp."

From the article, "Asia Pacific to Overtake North America in LTE Subscriptions."

Be the first to leave a comment.

Have a comment? Login or create an account to start a discussion.