Up until now, mass adoption of LTE has primarily been seen in North America and China, but, in 2014, industry watchers believe it will be increasingly used – including in Europe.
Derick Roberts, CEO of wireless specialist, TruTeq Devices, says that in 2014 traffic on legacy 2G and 3G networks will start to decline more rapidly as LTE becomes the focal point.
“We are witnessing this, more and more, through the growing number of LTE subscribers and the diminishing amount of spectrum allocated to legacy systems.”
On top of this, the volume of LTE traffic is growing substantially.
This upsurge in traffic – together with the fact that people behave differently on LTE networks – will cause operators to take a closer look at their investment strategy, he says.
They are likely to consider the benefits of over-investing in single radio access networks as opposed to a “cap and grow” strategy by deploying an LTE overlay network.
“While the adoption of LTE is more advanced in North America, China and Europe, we will see it making inroads onto the African continent. South Africa’s mobile operators, including MTN and Vodacom, can compete with the best in the world, and we will, therefore, also see LTE being adopted more vigorously in South Africa going forward,” says Roberts.
LTE set for the big time
Up until now, mass adoption of LTE has primarily been seen in North America and China, but, in 2014, industry watchers believe it will be increasingly used – including in Europe.
Derick Roberts, CEO of wireless specialist, TruTeq Devices, says that in 2014 traffic on legacy 2G and 3G networks will start to decline more rapidly as LTE becomes the focal point.
“We are witnessing this, more and more, through the growing number of LTE subscribers and the diminishing amount of spectrum allocated to legacy systems.”
On top of this, the volume of LTE traffic is growing substantially.
This upsurge in traffic – together with the fact that people behave differently on LTE networks – will cause operators to take a closer look at their investment strategy, he says.
They are likely to consider the benefits of over-investing in single radio access networks as opposed to a “cap and grow” strategy by deploying an LTE overlay network.
“While the adoption of LTE is more advanced in North America, China and Europe, we will see it making inroads onto the African continent. South Africa’s mobile operators, including MTN and Vodacom, can compete with the best in the world, and we will, therefore, also see LTE being adopted more vigorously in South Africa going forward,” says Roberts.
