According to a GSMA research the number of LTE connections in Asia Pacific will exceed 120 million by 2015. China is expected to account for nearly half (57.9 million) of the total number of LTE connections. Behind China, the three largest LTE markets in the Asia Pacific region in 2015 will be: Japan, with 26.5 million connections; Indonesia with 13.1 million connections; and South Korea with 9.8 million connections.

NTT DoCoMo and CSL are set to launch commercial LTE networks this year while An additional 36 LTE networks are currently being planned across Asia Pacific.

The significant progress made by the GSMA and its members to enable voice functionality over LTE networks is also driving LTE traction in the Asia Pacific region. The GSMA’s VoLTE initiative, which is focused on developing a single common solution for providing voice over LTE, now has more than 80 participants from the world’s mobile operator and vendor community. 

The countries expected to drive the Asia Pacific LTE market currently have a strong HSPA and HSPA+ installed base from which to migrate. According to the latest statistics from Wireless Intelligence, there are 120 million HSPA connections in the Asia Pacific region. HSPA has achieved 90% growth in Asia Pacific over the past 12 months. In the same period, total mobile connections in the region grew by just 23%, demonstrating the momentum that HSPA is building. The largest HSPA markets in Asia Pacific currently include South Korea with 30 million connections, Japan with 28 million, Australia with 13 million and China with 10 million.

Since both LTE and HSPA are members of the GSM family of technologies, all mobile operators deploying HSPA will benefit from a clear upgrade path to LTE. Both technologies also benefit from the global GSM ecosystem that currently supports more than 350 million HSPA connections globally, drives down equipment and device costs while enhancing consumer choice.