The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) said the number of LTE subscriptions worldwide has probably now reached the 1 billion mark after LTE and LTE Advanced subscriptions increased by 152 million in the third quarter of 2015 to reach 908.5 million. The association based its assessment on figures provided by Ovum. The GSA also noted that this means LTE technology was being used by one in eight mobile subscriptions by end-September 2015. Europe accounted for 15.2 per cent of global subscriptions, and the number of LTE subscriptions in Western Europe has now passed 115 million. A strong performance for LTE was again noted in the Middle East. The region has 25.7 million LTE subscriptions and an annual growth of 144 per cent. The GSA also said 97 operators, equating to over 21 per cent of all LTE operators, have commercially launched LTE Advanced services in 48 countries. Report