GSA has announced that globally 331 operators have commercially launched LTE networks and service in 112 countries. 65 LTE networks have launched so far in 2014. In addition, 116 mobile operators have launched HD voice service representing over 30% YoY growth.
According to a recent GSA report on LTE Evolution, 113 firm LTE network deployments are planned or in progress in 46 countries, including 7 systems which have commercially launched.
The rapid increase of mobile data services, driven by smartphones and tablets, has accelerated data-traffic growth to the point where macro cellular networks are no longer sufficient to meet subscriber demand in many high-density settings.
Global LTE traffic will grow by over 200% in 2013, says ABI Research. Overall mobile data traffic had increased by 69% year-on-year in 2012. LTE has growth rate of 207% in 2013 compared to 99% for 3G traffic.
Research In Motion (RIM) has introduced the new 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with built-in support for cellular networks. Company is launching the LTE tablet in Canada first.
3GPP and the Broadband Forum worked together for their first joint workshop on Fixed/Mobile Convergence (FMC). Workshop was held on February 18-19 in San Francisco.
In a recent LTE report, GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) has confirmed that 412 operators are investing in LTE technology in 125 countries across the globe. This year so far 11 commercial launches have taken place where as 98 operators commercially launched LTE service in the past 12 months.
As Apple iPhone 4 specifications are available now , I was curious to compare it with HTC Evo 4G. See below a side-by-side comparison of these two handsets.