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Did you know? some facts from around the world on LTE / 4G

iPlayer screenshots using 4G - multiple simultaneous streamsDid you know1 that LTE was launched in the USA in December 2010 where a most aggressive competition between operators has been taking place, led by Verizon? In the USA LTE has high penetration across all devices, comes at no premium over 3G data services and LTE users typically use around 50% more data than 3G users.

LTE was also launched in Germany in December 2010 but has had a slow adoption rate with the initial focus being on fixed/mobile substitution. This I understand is in part due to regulations ensuring that owners of LTE bandwidth have to service “the final third” as part of their licensing arrangements. There isn’t much of a choice of devices on LTE in Germany.

South Korea was relatively late to the game here. They launched in July 2011 but had nationwide coverage by mid 2012 and has the highest penetration rate, focussed mainly on selling to consumers. LTE has brought innovative new services to the South Koreans  eg richer high quality interactive maps.

Norralorrapeople know this. Brings the scheduling of 4G in the UK into perspective doesn’t it?

1 source Ericsson & GSA (Oct 12th 2011)

Trefor Davies

By Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com

2 replies on “Did you know? some facts from around the world on LTE / 4G”

But if you look into LTE in the USA, there is very little point having the faster speed; as neither Verizon or AT&T will allocate you any more download allowance than on their quarter speed 3G networks.

Verizon had to do LTE, their 3G based on CDMA is hard pushed to get 1.0mbps, whereas in the UK I’ve personally seen 10mbps on 3 and 9mbps on T-Mobile for example.

There is already a commerical 4G service in the Southbank region of London. The biggest problem is not that we don’t have any commercial 4G services at all, it is just that we need a more UK-wide rollout, not just a service confined to an area of London.

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