The onward march of LTE would appear to be continuing following details released by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) that over 20 operators will launch commercial LTE services this year, with over 60 operators across 31 countries committed to LTE--double the number compared to the same time a year ago.
Albeit that the GSA represents equipment vendors and is therefore keen to stress the migration from 3G to LTE, the trade body credits the uptake of HSPA as having triggered interest for high speed data services.
"The success of HSPA/HSPA+ in delivering mobile broadband will fuel demand to support even more customers and for even higher data throughputs including for new applications, which LTE delivers," said the GSA. The GSA also believes that ongoing HSPA+ deployments will not delay operators in committing to LTE.
"A total of 88 operators in 42 countries have now committed to deploy LTE systems or are engaged in trials or other planning and preparatory activities," said Alan Hadden, president of the GSA.
The GSA said it expects up to 22 live LTE networks to be in operation by the end of 2010, a figure that it predicts will rise to 39 by the end of 2012.
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Total Telecom
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