4G LTE market undergoes explosive growth

The global LTE market is set to grow at a significant 78.6% CAGR until 2019 due to a rising demand for high-speed broadband, according to new research from Transparency Market Research.

Back in 2012, the global LTE market was valued at US$10.47 billion, and by 2019 the market is projected to reach a value of US$610.71 billion.

Long Term Evolution (LTE), marketed as 4G LTE, is a wireless communication technology that is high in demand at present, according to the research.

This technology is a favourite among consumers as it reduces the cost per gigabyte with capacity per site, the research says.

This technology was introduced commercially in 2009 by the firm TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway. In 2010, this technology was introduced in the U.S. by Verizon Wireless, which revolutionised this sector in North America, the study shows.

Regionally, North America leads the global LTE market and is valued at US$5.36 billion in 2012. The growth of this regional market can be attributed to the reduced prices of LTE as compared to the 3G network, according to the study.

However, the Asia Pacific region is expected to surpass the North American LTE market by the end of 2015.

The accelerating demand for high-speed wireless data and the growing cost of infrastructure in nations in this region are the factors that will boost the growth of the Asia Pacific LTE market, according to the research.

The Asia Pacific LTE market is anticipated to demonstrate an impressive CAGR of 88.7% during the forecast period and is estimated to be worth US$244.29 billion by 2019.

Verizon Wireless ruled the global LTE market, with a market share of 58.1% in 2012, trailed by NTT DoCoMo.

Other notable network operators in the global LTE market include China Mobile, AT-T, Sprint Corp., Vodafone, T-Mobile, and SK Telecom.

Ericsson is the leading LTE network infrastructure vendor, with a market share of 30% in 2012, trailed by Huawei.

By technology, the market is segmented into LTE FDD, TD-LTE, and LTE Advanced.

The LTE-FDD sector held a significant 56.8% market share in 2012, while the sector of LTE Advanced is expected to grow at a booming CAGR of 175% during the forecast period.

By services and applications, the market is divided into VoLTE, video-on-demand/TV, public safety LTE, P2P messaging, music, mobile cloud services, m-commerce, M2M and connected devices, games, and browsing.

The sector of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) is expected to rise at a 123.5% CAGR during the forecast period, the study shows.

Besides growing consumer demand for higher data rates, the global LTE market will also benefit from the elevated spectral efficiency driven by growing data usage.

Furthermore, factors such as the rapid deployment of smart devices, rising need for high quality of services on the go, growing public safety LTE sector, and rising planned large-scale adoption of LTE operators in Asia Pacific will fuel the global LTE market.

Nevertheless, the market will be challenged by the roaming facility, which is not yet fully developed. Other computability issues linked with LTE technology will also suppress the global LTE market's growth, according to the research.