News | June 15, 2009

LTE Becomes Real, 3G Gaining Ground

Despite the buzz about LTE, only 11% of total cellular subscriptions worldwide are 3G, according to market research and consultancy In-Stat. By 2013, the percentage will rise to 28%. Meanwhile, LTE is moving beyond talk and into real contract awards.

HSPA is the main beneficiary of the drive to 3G as it leads both new deployments and contract awards so far in 2009. Ericsson and Huawei led the infrastructure providers in new contract awards for HSPA. The new, high profile contract awards in 3G included China Unicom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica.

"The roll-out of 3G worldwide is important, but the story of the day is LTE becoming a reality," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "LTE contracts have been awarded in Japan, Singapore, United States, Norway, and Sweden. Infrastructure leaders are far from decided; however, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Huawei are the early beneficiaries of the early LTE contract awards."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

  • During 1Q09, there were 9 WiMAX 802.16e networks deployed worldwide, mainly in Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe.
  • 2G is far from dead. There were new contract awards for 2G infrastructure in 1Q2009.

The research, "1Q/2Q09 2G/3G/4G Contract, Deployment, and Subscriptions Database" (#IN0904346GDS), provides an in-depth look at the wireless technologies being deployed around the world. It provides summary data by bandwidth, technology, and region in pivot-tables for quick analysis of trends using a combination of subscriptions, contract awards, and deployments. Furthermore, detailed data on contract awards for upcoming networks and new network deployments are provided in pivot-tables for targeted views by country, service provider, and infrastructure vendor for in-depth analysis.

This report includes:

  • Five-year Subscriptions forecasts by wireless technology and region (CDMA, GSM/EDGE, CDMA EV-DO, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+, 802.16e, and LTE).
  • Contract Awards and Deployments by wireless technology, region, country, service provider, infrastructure vendor, date, availability, and value.

For more information on this research or to purchase it online, please visit: http://email.in-stat.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/hBRrN0Ro2fL0K560Fq3t0E3

About In-Stat
In-Stat's market intelligence combines technical, market and end-user research and database models to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems. Our insights are derived from a deep understanding of technology impacts, nearly 30 years of history in research and consulting, and direct relationships with leading players in each of our core markets. In-Stat provides its research through reports, annual subscriptions, consulting and advisory services to inform critical decisions. Technology and semiconductor vendors, infrastructure and device manufacturers, service providers and media companies worldwide rely on partnerships with In-Stat's tenured, experienced staff and on our in-depth market intelligence to support critical business, product and technology decisions.

In-Stat is a strategic segment of the $9 billion Reed Elsevier global information network, with access to an expansive worldwide electronic network, extensive technology databases and well-informed personnel. As a member of Reed Business Information, In-Stat is a division of the largest business-to-business publisher in the U.S.

SOURCE: In-Stat