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.
Sprint has announced the next evolution of the HTC EVO family: HTC EVO 4G LTE. It will be available in the second quarter for $199.99. The availability date will be announced later.
Operators worldwide are embracing LTE at faster rate now. According to a recent GSA report 301 operators have committed to commercial LTE network deployments, more than 50% jump in a year.
GSA has confirmed that 72 LTE operators have launched commercial LTE services, including 25 networks launched so far in 2012. Commercial LTE services are now available today in 37 countries.
Alvarion one of the global leader in the WiMax market, with most extensive customer base with hundreds of commercial WiMAX deployments, has stated that it will add support for TD-Long Term Evolutio
Global LTE phone shipments will grow tenfold from 6.8 million units in 2011 to reach 67 million units in 2012, Strategy Analytics said last week. Companies leading the growth spurt will include Apple, Samsung, HTC and others. Major countries driving LTE growth this year will include the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Telefónica O2 is currently trialing LTE in Slough, UK. O2 has deployed six 4G mobile cell towers and are capable of handling the same volume of traffic as O2's entire UK 3G network.