In a recent report, ABI Research has announced that the spending on LTE base stations will hit US$ 12.3 billion in 2013 as countries across globe are rushing to embrace 4G technology. LTE is being deployed worldwide in both developed as well as in emerging markets. LTE has helped to reverse the downward trend in RAN expenditure in Western Europe last year and will do the same in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Middle East in 2013 and Africa in 2014.

ABI further reports that operators in the developed markets are already taking steps to upgrade their networks to LTE-Advanced this year and will also invest a larger proportion of their RAN spend on LTE small cells for increased capacity with significant savings on CapEx.

3G equipment spending has reportedly already declined globally and 2013 will see a sharp reduction in China Mobile’s 3G investments in TD-SCDMA.. In 2013, 4G equipment spending is taking a hit with 6.0% drop however as 4G deployment and capacity build-up gains momentum, wireless investment should increase in 2014.

Last month company has reported that total mobile data traffic had increased 69% year-on-year in 2012 where as 4G LTE traffic is accelerating, with a growth rate of 207% in 2013 compared to 99% for 3G traffic.