5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, announced that LTE continued its impressive momentum in North Americas, Latin America and throughout the world.  The association reported mobile subscriber data for the third quarter of 2016 which included significant regional milestones for LTE according to data and forecasts by Ovum. Global LTE connections rose 81 percent year-over-year in the third quarter. Latin America and the Caribbean added 59.4 million new LTE connections year-over-year in the third quarter—more than doubling the region’s LTE connections with a 154 percent growth rate.
 
3Q 2016 - North America
“LTE continues its tremendous uptake by customers in North America as subscribers reap the benefits of fast data speeds and ‘everywhere connectivity’ as wireless carriers deploy new LTE-Advanced features,” stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas.
 
In another leadership marker, LTE’s penetration rate as a percentage of connections to the population of 360 million in North America reached 79 percent.  This penetration rate compares to Western Europe at 43 percent penetration and Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia with 41 percent penetration. In North America, LTE penetration is expected to pass 100 percent in 2019.
 
In addition to having a penetration rate significantly higher than the next highest regions, the U.S. and Canada also has the highest market share for LTE in comparison to all mobile wireless technologies with 62 percent versus Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia at 38 percent and 32 percent in Western Europe. Market share represents the percentage of mobile wireless connections that are LTE technology versus all other mobile technologies.

• 282 million LTE connections for net gain of 63 million new LTE customers in the last 12 months and a 29 percent growth rate
• LTE is forecast to reach 394 million connections at the end of 2020 (forecast does not include M2M) or 92 percent share of market
• 1 million 5G connections forecast in 2020 – nearly 50 percent of global 5G connections followed by Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia with 28 percent and Eastern Europe with nearly 19 percent

3Q 2016 - Latin America
Jose Otero, director of Latin America and the Caribbean, 5G Americas summarized trends in the region, “LTE continues to be the fastest growing mobile broadband technology in Latin America and the Caribbean with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay continuing to lead the region in LTE penetration rates. Mexico and Brazil, the largest mobile subscriber markets in nominal terms, continue to benefit from greater population coverage that make these countries lead in LTE net additions regionally. Nonetheless, the big news over the 3Q 2016 was the commercial launch of LTE-Advanced in Chile and Peru with new announcements expected before the end of the year.”
 
Latin America and the Caribbean had another healthy quarter for LTE growth in market share, increasing from 5.3 to 14 percent year-over-year. 

• 703 million total mobile wireless subscriptions
• 97.9 million LTE connections; 59.4 million added year-over-year
• LTE is forecast to reach 109 million connections at the end of 2016 (forecast does not include M2M) and a 16 percent share of market
• HSPA reached 47 percent share of market with 329 million connections
• LTE is forecast to reach 438 million connections at end of 2021 (forecast does not include M2M) and a 58 percent share of market  

3Q 2016 - Global LTE & LTE-Advanced

• 1.7 billion LTE connections out of a total of 7.5 billion total cellular connections worldwide
• 752 million new LTE subscriptions year-over-year; 81 percent growth
• LTE connections forecast to reach 4.3 billion by year-end 2021 (forecast does not include M2M)
• LTE global market share forecast to reach 52 percent by 2021

For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.5gamericas.org. Subscriber and forecast data is provided by Ovum. More information is available at www.5gamericas.org.