Evolution of LTE to 5G – October 2019

Evolution of LTE to 5G: October 2019

Key market facts

There are:

• 900 operators actively investing in LTE, including those evaluating/testing and trialling LTE and those paying for suitable spectrum licences (excludes those using technology neutral licences exclusively for 2G or 3G services).
• 777 operators running LTE networks providing mobile and/or FWA services in 228 countries worldwide.
• 204 commercial VoLTE networks in 94 countries and a total of 268 operators investing in VoLTE in 120 countries.
• 311 launched LTE-Advanced networks in 136 countries. Overall, 341 operators are investing in LTE-Advanced technology in 143 countries.
• Ten launched networks that support user equipment (UE) at Cat-18 DL speeds within limited geographic areas, and one supporting Cat-19 (in a limited area).
• 233 operators with TDD licences and at least 165 operators with launched LTE-TDD networks.
• 155 operators investing in NB-IoT in 72 countries; of these, 103 NB-IoT networks are deployed/launched in 55 countries. Sixty-seven operators are investing in LTE-M/Cat-M1 in 39 countries; of these, 42 LTE-M/Cat-M1 networks are deployed/commercially launched in 26 countries.
• 321 operators in 125 countries are investing in 5G mobile or 5G FWA/home broadband networks.
• 62 operators in 34 countries have announced the deployment of 5G within their live network.
• 46 operators in 26 countries have announced 3GPP 5G service launches (or limited service launches).

Note that all references to countries in this document can be read as also including territories, special administrative regions, disputed territories and dependencies.

Growth of LTE: number of mobile operators launching LTE networks each year, and cumulative (including mobile and FWA networks)

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