The future belongs to the high-speed 4G LTE networks
The high-speed 4G LTE networks are already showing impressive development (as well as demand), and it is most certain that they are the future of mobile data transfer in the United States as well as all around the world.
The Yankee Group analyzed that by the end of 2012 there will be 152 commercial LTE networks across 65 countries. The research firm also predicts that in 2013 there will be about 114 million mobile subscribers using the high-speed technology, and that this number will more than double to 258 million by the end of 2014.
The global voice and messaging revenue of the mobile operators is also predicted to fall from $769 billion in 2011 to $697 billion in 2016. As a result, the service providers are expected to bundle additional content apps and services with LTE subscriptions, as well as increase their cloud-based storage offerings.
According to Yankee analyst Declan Lonergan, the future also brings unprecedented challenges for the operators. “Not only are they tasked with investing in new infrastructure and rolling out next-generation LTE networks at an ever-faster pace (in a decidedly harsh economic climate), but they must also find innovative ways to monetize those new networks, all while fighting increasingly intense competition from OTT vendors intent on stealing away their bread-and-butter voice and messaging revenue.”
