GSA confirms 821 LTE user devices announced, with smartphones leading way

UK: An update to the ‘Status of the LTE Ecosystem’ report released by the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms that 97 manufacturers have announced 821 LTE-enabled user devices, including frequency and carrier variants. 474 new LTE user devices were launched in the past year. The number of manufacturers increased by 54 percent in this period.

Smartphones remain the largest LTE device category with 4 times as many products released compared to the lansdscape in April 2012. LTE connected tablets is another fast growing segment.

The underlying research by GSA for the report considered devices that are designed to operate on the FDD and/or TDD modes of the LTE system and their main characteristics, and identified the fallback technologies included for when subscribers move outside LTE coverage (i.e. access to HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, EV-DO, or TD-SCDMA systems). 562 LTE devices can operate on HSPA networks, including 259 products that incorporate 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+ capabilities, while 215 LTE devices can also operate on EV-DO systems.

Most of the 821 LTE devices operate in the FDD mode. However, 166 devices can operate using the LTE TDD mode, with band 38 (2.6 GHz) and band 40 (2.3 GHz) having the largest number. LTE TDD devices are available in all form factors including smartphones, dongles, routers, portable hotspots, embedded modules, and mobile tablets. In the report GSA calls on semiconductor and device manufacturers to support the many operators who are deploying or planning LTE TDD systems in globally available 3.5 GHz spectrum (bands 42, 43) to ensure a good choice and timely availability of user devices.

GSA recently confirmed that 1800 MHz (band 3) is the most widely used band for LTE networks in commercial service, followed by 2600 MHz (band 7) and 800 MHz (band 20). This report shows that the frequency band support in LTE devices fully aligns with this trend (several products support more than one band):

2600 MHz = 280 devices; 1800 MHz = 233 devices; and 800 MHz = 207 devices.

Alan Hadden, president of the GSA said: “A user with a dual band 1800/2600 MHz LTE FDD device could potentially use it on around 100 LTE networks in more than 55 countries i.e. 83% of markets where LTE service is commercially available today.”

The report gives a breakdown for the other FDD main bands including 700 MHz (used mainly in North America), AWS (band 4), 2100 MHz (band 1) and 900 MHz (band 8). Terminal support for the main LTE TDD bands is also provided.

The report also highlights the results of the industry roundtable at MWC which was co-hosted by GSA to focus on the major opportunity that the APT700 band plan offers for global spectrum harmonization for LTE systems. Semiconductor and device manufacturers are urged to support the goals of policy makers and operators to ensure that the devices ecosystem is established to support planned investments in this band.