LTE subscriptions to reach 1.4 billion by year-end

Cheri Wong

There will be nearly 1.37 billion 4G LTE subscribers worldwide by the end of 2015, up from nearly 650 million in 2014, according to ABI Research. 

The latest forecast predicts that the global LTE subscriber base will exceed 3.5 billion by 2020, demonstrating a five-year compound annual growth rate of 20.8%.

“The exponential rise in LTE points-of-presence covered justifies the need for sustained investment in LTE infrastructure, which is expected to grow nearly 10% year-on-year,” said ABI.

The research highlights that carriers in the US are “still investing heavily in LTE technology to consolidate their networks” with Verizon partnering with Ericsson to deploy small cells and T-Mobile US partnering with Nokia Networks on similar small cell deployments that use LTE-Unlicensed technology.

“Operators can expect to improve their 4G service revenues by investing in small cell technology as users download more mobile data with faster surfing speeds,” said Cheri Wong, research analyst at ABI Research.