Infonetics Research released updated information that supports the growth of LTE plans and commitments by service providers in the not-so-distant future. Market highlights include:

• The first major technical deployments of LTE have now started in Japan and the U.S., driven mainly by NTT DoCoMo and Verizon Wireless, for major commercial service launch in 2010.

• Peak rates, latency, and spectral efficiency are the chief drivers behind the push to make LTE the universal future-proof mobile broadband platform.

• The LTE infrastructure market is expected to top $5 billion by 2013, fueled by E-UTRAN macrocell (eNodeB) deployments.

• Based on public announcements made by service providers planning LTE services, the number of LTE service subscribers is expected to exceed 72 million by 2013.

• For the first 5 years of deployment, LTE will be predominantly PC-based (laptops, netbooks, dongles, etc.), with LTE smartphones expected to hit the market after 2011.

“To date, the gloomy economic environment has not adversely affected service provider LTE plans and commitments. In fact, the number of commercial LTE launches scheduled for 2010 has risen from 10 in March to 14 now. As mobile operators initially build their LTE coverage, the E-UTRAN is where the action will be. Later, as the time comes to figure out a way to monetize LTE-based services, the significance of the evolved packet core will rise,” notes Stéphane Téral, Infonetics Research’s principal analyst, mobile and FMC infrastructure.

Another survey executed by Infonetics also supports the priority service providers place on upgrading to 4G networks. And within that survey, it’s no surprise that backhaul is their top challenge.

The survey, designed and conducted by senior analysts Stéphane Téral and Richard Webb, surveyed knowledgeable purchase decision-makers at service providers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (58%), North America (26%), Asia Pacific (11%), and Central and Latin America (5%) that operate a wireless network and have plans to deploy 4G.

The 19 service providers participating in the survey are a mix of incumbents (21%), competitives (26%), and wireless (53%) operators that together represents 27% of the world’s carrier revenue and 22% of the world’s telecom capital expenditures, as reported in Infonetics’ Service Provider Capex, Opex, ARPU, and Subscribers service.

Twenty-one (21) percent of the survey respondents have GSM/GPRS/edge networks, 47% have W-CDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ networks, 16% have CDMA200 networks, and another 16% run fixed/nomadic or mobile WiMAX networks.

Service providers participating in the survey were asked when they anticipate their 4G network build-out to be complete, when they expected to have commercial 4G services running, and about the challenges they face and the technical and commercial drivers that are compelling them to upgrade to 4G technology.

“Backhaul is the top-rated 4G challenge for carriers planning an upgrade to 4G,” added Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices.

The second edition of Infonetics’ biannual LTE Infrastructure and Subscribers market size and forecast report tracks Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) macrocells (enhanced NodeBs) and evolved packet core (EPC) infrastructure, including the mobility management entity (MME) and access gateways.

Infonetics Research, 4G Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey.

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