REPORT: Status of the LTE Ecosystem

November 23, 2012

This report by the GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) provides an analysis of 560 LTE user devices launched in the market by 83 suppliers, which we have identified from our latest research. The impressive scale of todays devices ecosystem has helped LTE to become established as a mainstream technology. LTE is also the fastest developing mobile communications system technology ever.

GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) www.gsacom.com

GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association Join the discussions in our LinkedIN groups GSA: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2313721 LTE1800: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3129390 LTE TDD: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3978061 LTE User Devices: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4146472

560 LTE User Devices

83 manufacturers
GSA surveys worldwide mobile broadband market developments and publishes facts, statistics and trends in its Evolution to LTE report confirming operator commitments to LTE, network deployments, launches, trials, regulatory and market developments. The Evolution to LTE report of November 2, 2012 confirmed 360 operators are investing in LTE, comprizing 308 network build commitments and 52 pre-commitment trials. 113 LTE systems were commercially launched by that date. GSA forecasts 209 LTE networks will be in commercial service by end 2013. Check our website www.gsacom.com regularly for updates. There were 27.6 million LTE subs at the end of June 2012. GSAs research confirmed 560 LTE user device announcements by 83 manufacturers, including frequency and carrier variants, up to November 2, 2012. The 560 total is almost 3 times the number GSA reported a year ago (197). The number of manufacturers grew 73% in the same period. LTE devices address all segments. Most operate in the FDD mode; however, 115 devices can operate in the TDD mode see next page for details.
Modules

LTE Operating Frequencies

LTE networks are deployed globally in many bands. GSAs analysis of how the main LTE bands are supported by the devices ecosystem is as follows: LTE FDD 700 MHz 800 MHz Band 20 1800 MHz Band 3 2600 MHz Band 7 800/1800/2600 MHz 2100 MHz Band 1 AWS Band 4 LTE TDD 2300 MHz Band 40 2600 MHz Band 38 2600 MHz Band 41 251 devices 115 devices 130 devices 158 devices 93 devices 72 devices 111 devices 77 devices 94 devices 19 devices

Note 1: Manufacturers have not declared operating frequencies or fallback modes for some products Note 2: Several devices are multi-band Note 3: 3GPP defines a number of bands in 700 MHz:
Band 12: (Lower 700 MHz) 699 MHz-716 MHz /729 MHz-746 MHz Band 13: (Upper C 700 MHz) 777 MHz-787 MHz /746 MHz-756 MHz Band 14: (Upper D 700 MHz) 788 MHz-798 MHz /758 MHz-768 MHz Band 17: (Lower B, C 700 MHz) 704 MHz-716 MHz /734 MHz-746 MHz APAC Digital Dividend (APAC700): 698 - 806 MHz

An LTE device confirmed by GSA as operating in "700 MHz" may operate in only one of these bands, and in some cases may operate in more than one of these bands Note 4: Certain products are carrier or country specific and are not available in all markets

97

53 50

Tablets

19 3

Notebooks PC cards Femtocell

3G interworking/fallback 364 LTE devices also operate on either HSPA, HSPA+ or DC-HSPA+ networks 167 LTE devices support DC-HSPA+ 172 LTE devices support EV-DO networks

184

151

Smartphones Routers/personal hotspots Dongles

1800 MHz: most popular LTE band

GSA recently confirmed that 1800 MHz is the most popular band for LTE deployments, and is used in over 37% of networks. Strong operator and industry commitment to 1800 MHz encouraged rapid development of the devices ecosystem which is supported by the leading brands including in the most popular smartphones. 130 LTE1800 devices are announced, over 3x higher than a year ago. A GSA report Embracing the 1800MHz opportunity: Driving mobile forward with LTE in the 1800MHz band (download via the link on www.gsacom.com/lte1800) demonstrates the strong appeal of using 1800 MHz for mobile broadband, showing from practical, economic and business perspectives why 1800 MHz is so important for LTE deployments across most of the world, and its importance for international roaming.

560 LTE User Devices - by form factor

GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association Download the above chart via link on www.gsacom.com

151 LTE smartphones (including operator and frequency variants) are announced, which is over 5 times higher than the figure of a year ago. LTE is supported in phones from all the leading brands. Detailed analysis of each of the 560 LTE devices is available to authorized users of the GAMBoD - LTE tool conditions apply (www.gsacom.com/gambod). GAMBoD is NOT a public resource. Access is restricted to:
* registered users from GSA member companies * registered users from network operators * registered users from Associate of GSA enterprises

For the current worldwide market situation see GSAs Status of the Global LTE1800 Market report download via the link on www.gsacom.com

Further analysis using GAMBoD

GAMBoD is the GSA Analyzer for Mobile Broadband Devices, a unique search and analysis tool developed by GSA for mobile broadband devices, allowing searches of GSAs devices databases by supplier, form factor, features, peak downlink and uplink speeds, and operating frequency. Results are presented in list form or in a spreadsheet or charts. An RSS feed can alert users when we add new devices to our databases.

Femtocell Dongles Routers/personal hotspots Smartphones Tablets Modules

10

20

30

40

50

130 LTE1800 user devices - by form factor

GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association Download the above chart via link on www.gsacom.com

LTE TDD devices

LTE is a single global 3GPP standard that addresses both FDD and TDD spectrum. LTE TDD is an integral part of the standard and interest is evident and growing globally. For the current worldwide market situation see GSAs Status of the Global LTE TDD Market report download via the link on www.gsacom.com Multi-band, multi-mode LTE-TDD dongles and CPEs are commercially available from all major chipset and device manufacturers. 115 products announced by 29 device and chipset vendors can operate in the LTE TDD mode in various form factors including dongles (USB modems), CPEs (routers), embedded modules, phones and tablets. Several LTE TDD smartphones are now available in the market. For example, Softbank Mobile, having 446,500 LTE TDD customers at October 1, 2012, recently announced 6 new LTE TDD smartphones. Bands 38 (2.6 GHz) and 40 (2.3 GHz) have the largest ecosystems of LTE TDD user devices. Terminal support for band 38 is 81% Terminal support for band 40 is 66% Support for TDD bands 2.6 GHz (band 41), 1.9GHz and 3.5 GHz is also picking up Charts may be inserted into documents or presentations, subject to citing GSA as the source. GAMBoD is available only to qualified site users, which GSA has defined as follows: registered site users who are employees of GSA member companies registered site users who are employees of network operators registered site users who are employees of Associate of GSA enterprises

In all cases, users must have registered using their corporate email address. GSA offers medium and large-size enterprises the opportunity to become an Associate of GSA with the main benefit of receiving a licence for use of the GAMBoD tools and databases by any of its employees worldwide who are registered as users on the GSA website with their corporate email address, and subject to the published terms of use for GAMBoD. The annual fee for an enterprise as an Associate of GSA is GBP 2,500.00. Benefits commence on receipt of payment. To apply for your company email to marketing@gsacom.com Associate of GSA is not a membership category. For information about the benefits of Membership of GSA and the current annual fees please email to marketing@gsacom.com
GAMBoD, its contents/databases are copyright GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association

Two mobile broadband devices databases are available in GAMBoD for personalized analysis tasks one is for HSPA, HSPA+ and DC-HSPA+ products. The second database, GAMBoD-LTE, references all the LTE devices confirmed for this report. Both GAMBoD databases are located at www.gsacom.com/gambod. Hundreds of charts can be generated by GAMBoD-LTE, according to needs. Here are two examples:

39 LTE smartphones in AWS band

GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association

14 triband 800/1800/2600 MHz LTE smartphones

GSA Global mobile Suppliers Association GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) represents GSM/EDGE/WCDMA-HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE suppliers. GSA brings together a global industry community of telecoms professionals through the website and practical activities. The GSA website www.gsacom.com has over 53,000 registered users for knowledge gathering and information sharing of key facts, trends and analysis. Register for free downloads of reports, information papers, maps, charts, etc. www.gsacom.com/php/register_form.php4
News/updates RSS Feed: www.gsacom.com/rss/gsanews.php4 GSA LinkedIN group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2313721 LTE1800 LinkedIN group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3129390 LTE TDD LinkedIN group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3978061 LTE User Devices LinkedIN Group www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4146472 Twitter: www.twitter.com/gsacom Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Global-mobile-Suppliers-Association-GSA/123462771012551

NOTES: Errors & Omissions Excepted General announcements relating e.g. to future product collaborations or launches are not included Send updates for our next report to info@gsacom.com