ISSUE 03 2014
NEWS China to
trigger major shift in global
4G landscape Take-up of LTE in China will happen twice as fast as the earlier move to 3G, according to new GSMA Intelligence research.
The research forecasts there will be almost 900 million 4G connections in the country by the end of 2020, up from around 100 million this year.
It also suggests that given the sheer size of the Chinese market, the recent allocation of TD-LTE licenses to all three operators in the country is a significant juncture in the lifecycle of TD-LTE.
Calum Dewar, lead analyst, said: “Rather than being seen as a competing technology to the more common FDD- LTE, the two LTE variants are complementary and interoperable and therefore the entire 4G ecosystem stands to benefit from the Chinese launches.”
Market-leader China Mobile became the country’s first 4G operator in December 2013, with reports suggesting that it had upgraded some 200,000 of its TD-SCDMA base stations to support TD-LTE at launch.
This represents a significant level of initial coverage, taking in all of the major cities on China’s east coast and therefore potentially covering as many as 500 million people. The number of 4G base stations is expected to increase to 500,000 by the end of 2014.
In addition, China Mobile is set to offer more than 200 different 4G-compatible handsets this year, including a handset priced at CNY 1,000 ($165) and a number of self-branded 4G devices. Apple’s iPhone portfolio has also recently been made available to China Mobile customers.
Similarly, third-placed China Telecom plans to launch entry-level 4G smartphones at similar prices to its rival in the first half of the year before introducing mid-range and high-end models by year- end. By this time it expects to have 60,000 4G base stations.
China mobile connections by technology generation, 2000–2020
2G 100
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
0 3G 4G
36% 7%
52% Source: GSMA Intelligence
“With such large-scale rollouts underway, we expect these two operators to have the fastest initial 4G migration rates seen outside of South Korea, with close to 10 per cent of their combined total connections migrating to 4G by the end of this year,” Mr Dewar continued.
“By contrast, it took twice as long for China Mobile and China Telecom to migrate their 2G customers onto their 3G networks following launch.”
The entire 4G ecosystem stands to benefit from the Chinese launches
It is likely we will see a rather slower start to the 4G era for China Unicom. The country’s number-two operator confirmed in December 2013 that although it has been issued a licence for TD-LTE (like its rivals), it remains focused on running the majority of its 4G network via FDD-LTE – for which it is yet to receive a licence.
56% 27% 21% 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
“At the end of 2013, TD- LTE connections made up just over one in 40 LTE connections globally, but we expect this to grow to approximately one in four by 2020,” Mr Dewar concluded. “By then, the global TD-LTE market will have crossed the half a billion connections mark, with more than one in four of those connections coming from China alone.”
7
EE announces LTE roaming in France and
Spain EE is to offer UK customers access to 4G in France and Spain. The deals are the first of a series of outbound roaming agreements that will allow EE customers to enjoy 4G speeds around the world with other destinations including the US, made available by the summer.
The option to enjoy 4G speeds abroad is immediately available to Consumer and Small Business customers, with Corporate customers to follow soon.
EE will extend its 4G coverage across major roaming destination including the US, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands by the summer.
Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said: “Our customers will be the first to benefit in France and Spain today, with the most popular travel destinations to follow in the coming months. Whether it’s working on the move, social networking, using maps, or just finding a great place to eat in an unknown city, our customers will now benefit from the same superfast and reliable mobile experience at home and overseas.”
EE announced inbound 4G roaming for US travellers in the UK in December 2013.
Network technologies as % of total connections
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