Forecast: Billions Will Have High-Speed Mobile Broadband Within 5 Years

High-speed mobile broadband is poised to explode within the next five years. According to a new forecast, by 2019, subscriptions to LTE and LTE-Advanced will reach into the billions.

According to market research firm ABI Research, as of 2013, total LTE subscriptions had reached just 229.7 million worldwide. But that figure will grow at a compound rate of 43.6 percent each year through 2019, reaching about 2 billion total, driven in large part by the advent of LTE-Advanced. By 2019, more than one-third of those 2 billion subscribers — about 750 million — will have LTE-Advanced, which promises peak download speeds of 1 Gbps and typical download speeds of 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps and uploads of 10 Mbps to 70 Mbps. (Korea launched its first LTE-Advanced service last year and gained a total of 1 million subscribers.)

"Among the LTE subscription growth, Asia-Pacific contributes the most with a 49 percent market share. The second greatest contributor is North America with an 18 percent share," said Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research, in a prepared statement. "The large population base in Asia combined with rapid LTE network deployment and cost-competitive smartphones has accelerated the remarkable subscriber adoption."

North America at present has about 43.1 million LTE subscribers, according to ABI's reckoning. But, if the current distribution holds steady, that could reach 360 million by 2019 — enough for perhaps two subscriptions per household. About 134 million of those could have LTE-Advanced.

"All the major mobile operators are showing their commitments to carrier aggregation capable LTE-Advanced technology, which can better handle the anticipated explosion in mobile data traffic with greater bandwidth," ABI reported. "North America will be the most aggressive LTE-Advanced market, followed by Asia-Pacific and Western Europe."

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • teacher

    6 Policy Recommendations for Adopting AI in the Classroom

    The Southern Regional Education Board's Commission on AI in Education has published six recommendations on adopting artificial intelligence in schools, colleges, and universities. The guidance marks the commission's first release since it was established last February, with more recommendations planned in the coming year.

  • open book with glowing AI-generated text, images, and diagrams

    AI Can Help Educators Avoid the Mistakes of the Past or Repeat Them

    Generative AI is already shaping the future of education, but its true potential is only beginning to unfold.

  • group of elementary school students designing video games on computers in a modern classroom with a teacher, depicted in a geometric and abstract style

    Using Video Game Design to Teach Literacy Skills

    The Max Schoenfeld School, a public school in the Bronx serving one of the poorest communities in the nation, is taking an innovative approach to improving student literacy.

  • outline of a modern school building as glowing blue geometric shapes, surrounded by binary code streams, with golden orbs and lines representing funding, set against a dark gray gradient with faint grid patterns

    FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Participants Selected

    The Federal Communications Commission has officially selected the participants for its Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot, the three-year program exploring the use of Universal Service funds to improve school and library defenses against cyber attacks.