Evolution to LTE report January 30, 2017 4G MARKET and TECHNOLOGY UPDATE INTRODUCTION LTE Market Status LTE is a global success with 1.683 billion GSA’s Evolution to LTE report – JANUARY 2017 subscriptions by Q3 2016. LTE connects almost 1 in 790 operators investing in LTE in 201 countries 4 mobile users worldwide (22.4%). New subscriptions increased by more than 204 million in Q3. LTE is the • 764 operator commitments in 196 countries fastest developing mobile system technology ever. • 26 pre-commitment trials in 5 more countries LTE is specified by 3GPP as a single global standard 581 commercially launched LTE or LTE- for paired and unpaired spectrum users. The vast Advanced networks in 186 countries majority of the standard is the same for FDD & TDD. incl. 95 LTE TDD (TD-LTE) launched in 54 countries GSA’s Evolution to LTE report provides an independent in-depth status view and analysis of the 183 launched networks are LTE-Advanced global 4G/LTE, LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced or LTE-Advanced Pro in 87 countries Pro market, supported by facts, and confirms the trends. Information is obtained, analysed and verified GSA forecasts c. 635 commercially launched by GSA. This report is updated quarterly and LTE networks by end 2017 referenced by industry across the whole ecosystem. 7,037 LTE user devices announced (GSA – January 13, 2017) In this report: 1.683 billion LTE subscriptions globally: Q3 2016 Page © GSA www.gsacom.com Introduction 1 - 3 LTE deployments: operators, countries, regions 3 - 94 LTE-Advanced global status 94 - 107 LTE-Advanced / LTE-Advanced Pro Network VoLTE, EVS, ViLTE global status 108 - 109 Peak Downlink Speeds (theoretical) LTE TDD global status 110 - 111 LTE1800 global status 111 - 114 APT700 global status 115 - 116 LTE Broadcast / multicast (eMBMS) 116 - 117 LTE deployment commitments, studies, trials 118 - 123 LTE subscriptions / charts 124 LTE user devices ecosystem 125 About GSA, links, LinkedIn groups 125 LTE networks growth globally 2009-2017 233 operators are investing in LTE- Advanced related activities in 100 countries 17 operators commercially launched LTE- Advanced Pro networks 165 operators in 73 countries are investing in VoLTE deployments, studies or trials 102 operators launched VoLTE-HD voice in 54 countries Related charts and maps are available together with 274 operators (47.1%) in 119 countries use short topic “Snapshot” reports from www.gsacom.com 1800 MHz in commercial LTE networks 1 Evolution to LTE report January 30, 2017 4G MARKET and TECHNOLOGY UPDATE The drive towards LTE, LTE- Evolutions of the LTE standards now completed Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro enable the possibility to extend the benefits of LTE for operators is more capacity, Advanced to unlicensed spectrum. Four main options performance management and for deploying LTE in unlicensed spectrum are improved efficiencies to lower available depending on the deployment scenario and delivery cost. LTE is a big step in the the market/region: they are LTE-U, LAA (Licensed user experience, enhancing demanding apps such as Assisted Access), LWA (LTE-WiFi link Aggregation). interactive TV, video blogging, advanced gaming, and MulteFire™, the 4th option, enables LTE to be professional services. Deployment of LTE-Advanced deployed only in unlicensed spectrum without carrier aggregation technology is the major industry needing a licensed anchor channel. trend. Interest in LTE-Advanced Pro is high, also bringing globally standardised LPWA solutions: LTE LTE radio network products incorporate several Cat-M1 (eMTC) and Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT) with new features to simplify building and management of next- business opportunities. generation networks. Plug-and-play, self- configuration and self-optimization simplify and LTE is a full IP network and harmonizes with other reduce network rollout and management cost. LTE is radio access technologies and is the natural evolution being deployed alongside simplified, IP-based core choice for GSM/HSPA, CDMA and WiMAX™ and transport networks that are easier to build, operators, enabling a single unifying global standard maintain and introduce services on. The 3GPP core supporting with TDD & FDD modes. network has also undergone System Architecture Evolution, optimized for packet mode and the IP- Spectrum for LTE deployments Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to support all access technologies, including fixed access. This allows: Pressure for spectrum is high and operators should § Improvements in latency, capacity, throughput deploy the most efficient technologies using paired § Simplification of the core network, and optimization spectrum where available. LTE can be deployed in for IP traffic, services, and growth existing 2G or 3G bands and/or new bands e.g. 2.6 § Simplified support and handover to non-3GPP GHz or digital dividend spectrum (700/800 MHz) for access technologies more geographical coverage and improved in-building The resulting evolved packet system comprizes the performance. 2.6 GHz is the capacity band in most core network, evolved packet core (EPC) and radio regions. 1800 MHz (band 3) is the mainstream choice network. The whole system is often called LTE. for LTE in most regions. 700 MHz (bands 12, 13, 14 and 17) and 800 MHz (band 20 and regional Deployment of LTE-Advanced technology is the key variations) are firmly established as the main LTE trend globally. Carrier aggregation was the first bands for extended coverage and deepest building feature to be commercialized, facilitating higher data penetration. Adoption of the APT700 MHz band plan throughput rates in both directions, more efficient use for LTE network deployments in markets across the of spectrum assets for network operators, and an APAC and Latin America regions and in Europe enhanced user experience of mobile broadband. represents a major opportunity for near-global LTE-Advanced Pro (Release 13 and later) ushers in spectrum harmonization, paving the way for ensuring the Gigabit era (Category 16) for enhanced mobile the greatest economies of scale for devices and broadband service, and also opens new markets. capacity for mobile broadband services, and for Importantly LTE-Advanced Pro also delivered new roaming. The FDD plan configuration (band 28) has globally standardised solutions Cat-M1 (eMTC) and attracted unanimous support. Meanwhile the global Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT) for the vast IoT Low Power Wide success of mobile broadband enabled by LTE has led Area (LPWA) market. These narrowband solutions to additional frequency bands being allocated and complement existing LTE Cat-1 IoT technology. LTE- standardised Advanced Pro also meets the needs of the mission and business critical push-to-talk sectors e.g. In some regions 450 MHz spectrum is attracting emergency services, public safety and railway interest for rural coverage and M2M service communications. applications. LTE450 is launched in several markets. 2 Evolution to LTE report January 30, 2017 4G MARKET and TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Most LTE-Advanced systems support today Category 6 (300 Mbps downlink) user devices, meanwhile LTE networks, developments global round-up Category 9 (450 MBps) and higher Including LTE- Advanced Pro (often called 4.5G) networks and device ecosystems are rapidly developing. Americas The introduction of HD voice services for LTE users enabled by VoLTE is entering the mainstream. The USA market for ViLTE (video over VoLTE) is developing. Commercialization of LTE Broadcast, enabled by On September 21, 2010 regional carrier MetroPCS eMBMS technology, is set to take off in 2017. became the 1st US operator to launch LTE, and offered the world’s first commercially available LTE LTE TDD (TD-LTE) systems handset (Samsung SCH-R900/Craft™). Service launched in Las Vegas, then Dallas/Forth Worth, LTE is an open standard developed by 3GPP. The Detroit, Boston, Sacramento and New York. The Craft advanced technological performance of LTE came was also the first multi-mode CDMA-LTE handset. with in-built flexibility to operate in either paired (FDD, MetroPCS later merged with T Mobile USA. or Frequency Division Duplexing, mode) or unpaired (TDD, or Time Division Duplexing mode) spectrum Verizon Wireless commercially launched LTE using and various channel bandwidths – all with a single 2x10 MHz of 700 MHz (band 13) on December 5, technology. Companies from around the globe 2010. LTE is available to 98% of the population. contributed to the LTE standard and its evolution. The Verizon also launched LTE in 2x 10 MHz of AWS emphasis was always to leverage synergies between spectrum and on May 19, 2014 announced its “XLTE” the two duplex modes to the largest extent possible. service: compatible user devices select either 700 This allows operators to best utilize their current MHz or AWS spectrum where available. network assets, spectrum allocations and various bandwidth needs, while securing support, choice and Verizon Wireless deployed VoLTE and key LTE- economies of scale from the global vendor Advanced features in 2014. The company refarmed ecosystem, and limit potential market fragmentation. and brought into commercial use 1900 MHz band 2 The result is major commonality of the LTE spectrum for LTE. LTE-Advanced is available in 461 specifications for the FDD and TDD modes – in fact cities nationwide (August 29th, 2016) utilising 2 carrier the vast majority of the LTE standard is identical for (225 Mbps) or 3 carrier (300 Mbps) carrier both modes, and the huge global success of LTE. aggregation leveraging spectrum from band 2, band 4 or band 13, or using all three bands for 300 Mbps. Most LTE deployments use paired spectrum (FDD). The LTE TDD mode is complementary and the Verizon Wireless’ Advanced Calling 1.0 service with perfect choice for providing high-speed mobile HD voice over LTE (VoLTE and video calling support broadband access in unpaired spectrum. Many commercially launched on September 15, 2014. In operators deployed both FDD and TDD modes in July 2014 Verizon announced plans to partner with their networks. LTE TDD also provides a future-proof Qualcomm and Ericsson on a supplemental LTE evolutionary path for TD-SCDMA, another 3GPP downlink trial in 3.5 GHz spectrum.