LTE Continues Strong Growth Worldwide, 5G Americas Says

LTE “continued its impressive momentum in North America, Latin America and throughout the world” in Q4, based on data from Ovum, 5G Americas said in a news release. Worldwide LTE connections hit 1.9 billion at the end of last year and surpassed 2 billion connections by February of 2017, 5G Americas said Monday. The North America region had nearly 300 million LTE subscriptions by the end of 2016 “with some of the highest penetration rates, most extensive coverage and largest market share for LTE in the world,” the group said. Ovum projects 3 billion LTE connections in 2018 and 4 billion in 2020, and 5G Americas projects 5 billion in 2022, the news release said. “At the recent Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, 5G continued to show incredible progress and great promise in all areas,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas. “Yet, at the same time, the evolution of LTE toward LTE-Advanced Pro is being welcomed by mobile wireless customers throughout the world as evidenced by the tremendous growth of LTE customers.”