GSA Report Confirms 59 Operators in 28 Countries Committed to Deploying LTE

The GSA has released its latest information paper tracking operators' plans to deploy LTE networks. According to the report, as of 26 February there were 59 operators in a total of 28 countries committed to rolling out the technology, including TeliaSonera's units in Sweden and Norway which are the first ones to have their commercial LTE infrastructures in service. Based on its current information, the GSA expects the number of launched networks to reach up to 22 by the end of 2010, and 37 by the end of 2012.

In addition, at the time of the report, there were a further 16 operators that were engaged in trialling or other planning activities but had not yet clearly decided or committed to launching a commercial service, including for instance, seven units of Telefónica in Europe and Latin America.

Outlook and Implications

• Voice-over-LTE to Facilitate Migration of Voice and Messaging Services: LTE has obviously gained further industry push over the past few months, as can be seen when comparing the breakdown of confirmed network commitments to what the GSA reported for October 2009 (see World: 25 November 2009: GSA Survey Reports 42 LTE Commitments in 21 Countries). Back then, out of the 42 commitments in 21 countries, up to 15 were set to go live during 2010, whereas the potential number has now increased to 22—furthermore, TeliaSonera has beaten its initial 2010 launch window by activating the networks in Sweden and Norway already in late 2009. In the meantime, there has also been further progress in establishing the global standards for the delivery of voice and messaging services over LTE networks, with the GSM Association (GSMA) announcing during its annual Mobile World Congress in February the adoption of the relevant Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) initiative (see World: 6 November 2009: Vendors and Operators Agree on Voice over LTE Solution and 17 February 2010: GSMA Adopts One Voice Initiative Standard for 4G). This move has particular significance in the sense that it is likely to facilitate an eventual migration of the traditional, non-data mobile services to LTE networks, thus adding more behind the technology that is steadily establishing itself as the de facto standard for post-GSM communications.