The number of global LTE networks grew by more than a quarter last year, with 1800MHz dominating the landscape, new research has revealed.
A report by the Global mobile Supplier Association (GSA) revealed 1800MHz is used in almost 44 percent of the 360 commercially deployed networks and also boasts the largest devices ecosystem.
The next most popular band is 2.6GHz (used in more than 25 percent of networks), followed by 800MHz (around 20 percent).
FDD spectrum dominates, with 312 operators deploying an FDD-only network. However, unpaired TDD spectrum is becoming more attractive to operators, particularly in China, the report found, with more than one in eight operators now live.
Almost 30 percent of operators are working on LTE-A, either in the lab or the field. There are 49 commercial deployments across 31 countries, with the GSA claiming this figure could double in 2015.
Elsewhere, 80 operators in 42 countries, more than 22 percent of telcos, are deploying or testing VoLTE. Fourteen operators have launched the service in seven countries, with more to follow this year.
Alan Hadden, President of GSA, said: “LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation deployment was the major trend in 2014. Forty-nine operators have commercially launched LTE-Advanced in 31 countries. Taking account of additional deployments in progress, trials and studies, GSA calculates almost 30 percent of LTE operators are currently investing in LTE-Advanced technology.”
The report also found there have been eight commercial launches of LTE using APT700 spectrum, with 55 devices announced that use the bandwidth.Forty two countries have committed to using the spectrum, with a potential reach of 3.2 billion people.
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