There are now 59 operators committed to LTE network deployments in 28 countries, according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), as confirmed in the latest update of its Evolution to LTE report.
This compares to 39 network commitments in 19 countries reported by GSA in a similar study which was published 6 months earlier.
The report lists all network commitments and each deployment status.
GSA forecasts that up to 22 LTE networks will have entered commercial service by end 2010, and 37 LTE networks will be commercially launched by end 2012. The first 2 commercial LTE networks were launched in December 2009 in Sweden and Norway.
The report also references 16 additional operators currently engaged in technology tests or trials of LTE, from which additional commitments to deploy are expected to follow in due course.
Updates are included in the report on LTE device certification, interoperability testing, Voice over LTE, and regulatory developments – including progress on new spectrum allocations.
LTE was a major theme at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2010, where a number of new user devices supporting LTE were shown and announced, thus confirming the rapidly building eco-system, as detailed in the report.
By John Kennedy
