GSMA forecasts one billion 4G-LTE connections worldwide by 2017. At the end of 2013, there were 176 million LTE connections globally. Nearly 500 LTE networks are forecast to be in service across 128 countries, roughly double the number of live LTE networks today.

The new GSMA study calculates that about 20 per cent of the global population is currently within LTE network coverage range. As operators continue to expand LTE coverage over the next few years, it is forecast that LTE networks will be available to half of the world’s population by 2017. In the United States, LTE networks already cover more than 90 per cent of the population, compared to 47 per cent population coverage in Europe and 10 per cent in Asia.

The United States currently accounts for almost half (46 per cent) of global LTE connections; the United States, South Korea and Japan combined account for 80 per cent of the LTE total today. However, Asia is expected to account for almost half (47 per cent) of all LTE connections by 2017, as LTE networks are rolled out in major markets such as China and India. Half of total mobile connections in South Korea are now running on LTE networks – compared to 20 per cent in Japan and the United States.

The study also found that, in developing economies, operators have noted that LTE users can generate ARPU seven to 20 times greater than non-LTE users. In addition, four out of five mobile operators that have acquired ‘new’ spectrum since January 2010 have been allocated airwaves aimed at supporting the launch of LTE networks. LTE networks worldwide have been deployed in 12 different frequency bands to date; four out of five live LTE networks today are deployed in one of four bands: 700MHz, 800MHz, 1800MHz or 2600MHz.