Kexin
搜索
Search

Almost 600,000 base stations to be upgraded to LTE-A by 2018

Almost 600,000 base stations to be upgraded to LTE-A by 2018

(Summary description)Yota launched the first LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network in Russia last October; however, with the first compatible handset, SK Telecom was the earliest to make the technology commercially available in June 2013. Within two weeks, the South Korea operator has already claimed over 150,000 subscriptions, roughly 0.6% of its total. The US will have at least four LTE-A networks in service by the end of 2013 as well. This fierce competition will see more than half of the LTE subscribers in North America using LTE-A by 2017, according to research firm ABI Research.

Information

Yota launched the first LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network in Russia last October; however, with the first compatible handset, SK Telecom was the earliest to make the technology commercially available in June 2013. Within two weeks, the South Korea operator has already claimed over 150,000 subscriptions, roughly 0.6% of its total. The US will have at least four LTE-A networks in service by the end of 2013 as well. This fierce competition will see more than half of the LTE subscribers in North America using LTE-A by 2017, according to research firm ABI Research.

Underpinning this rapid adoption is the upgrade of base stations to support LTE-A worldwide, which is increasing at a CAGR of about 200% between 2012 and 2018 to reach more than half a million strong. "It's about boosting capacity as data consumption soars," said Ying Kang Tan, research associate at ABI Research. "Besides acquiring more spectrums, operators need to use the scarce resources more efficiently. Thus, despite all the clamor about a spectrum crunch, spectrum is one option-but not the only one-to enhance capacity. LTE-A provides part of the answer."

"Nevertheless, spectrum is essential. Operators are keenly reaching out to secure whatever spectrum they can get. As a result, they are ending up with a variety of different frequency bands. This is where carrier aggregation technology becomes useful," added Jake Saunders, VP at the firm.

While many emerging markets surprised the world with early LTE deployment, ABI Research noted that they are served by fewer LTE networks. In Middle East and Africa for instance, each market is served by an average of 1.1 LTE networks. It remains to be seen if the lack of competition will give less incentives for operators there to advance to LTE-A, the firm added.

Kexin

Follow us

Stock code:300565