UK to attain 8 million LTE subscriptions by 2015

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "LTE Insights Service - LTE in the UK: Deployment Plans, Operator Strategies, Spectrum and Forecasts 2011 - 2015" report to its offering.

A new research report from Signals and Systems Telecoms reveals that the UK will see LTE subscriptions jump to 8 Million by 2015, following commercial adoption in 2013. With over 7 million subscriptions and a penetration level of over 11 percent, the UK is one of the leading mobile broadband markets not only in Western Europe but throughout the world. As a result, the UK was one of the first countries to witness HSPA rollouts over UMTS networks, followed by widespread commercialization of USB dongles and mobile broadband subscription packages.

In the UK, a similar adoption strategy was anticipated with the introduction of the 3GPP LTE standard, that is widely endorsed as the next generation and most cost efficient standard for mobile broadband, with over 36 commercial deployments worldwide.

However, spectrum congestion issues have considerably delayed commercial LTE adoption in the UK, putting the UK behind other major mobile broadband markets such as Germany, the US, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and South Korea that have already started offering commercial mobile broadband services over LTE. Nonetheless, due to rising pressure from operators, the Government and consumers alike, spectrum auctions are expected by Q4'2012 and commercial commitments expected by Q1'2013.

With a number of LTE trials already operating, most notably O2's recently launched trial in London; LTE adoption is set to become a reality, in the UK, with subscriptions anticipated to reach 8 million by 2015, representing a CAGR of 198.76 percent between 2013 and 2015. This report provides insights to the key factors affecting LTE adoption within the UK, including operator strategies and roadmaps, spectrum and regulatory issues and subscriptions forecasts up to 2015, in addition to providing an overview of the current state of the worldwide LTE market.