LTE now accounts for more than 10% of the global mobile subscriber base, with adoption continuing to grow faster than any mobile communications technology before it, according to the GSA.
The global LTE subscriber base reached 755 million as of the end of June, the GSA's latest industry statistics show. Mobile operators have added a combined 441 million LTE subscribers in the past year alone.
By the end of the year the total LTE subscriber base is expected to exceed 1 billion, by which time the industry body predicts that there will be 460 commercial LTE networks in operation.
APAC accounted for a narrow majority (51.2%) of the world's LTE market by the end of June. Cihna alone had over 225 million LTE subscriptions, an increase of 63.5 million in Q2 alone.
North America remained in second place but its share of the overall market plunged to 26.2% from 42.4% a year earlier. Europe's share remained at 16% but the Latin America/Caribbean and Middle East markets are growing rapidly.
The GSA also revealed that 422 operators had launched LTE systems in 143 countries by July, and LTE-Advanced deployments are rapidly taking hold, with over 30% of LTE operators investing in the technology.