LTE service revenues will account for over $600 billion in 2016 and expected to grow further at a CAGR of more than 5% over the next four years, according to a new report by SNS Research.
By 2020, LTE and 5G infrastructure investments are expected to account for a market worth $32 billion. This includes spending on distributed macrocells, small cells, C-RAN architecture equipment and mobile core solutions.
SNS Research finds that more than 150 LTE operators have already deployed carrier aggregation technology. By 2020, over 50% of all LTE subscribers will be supported by LTE-Advanced networks.
Also, mobile operators are pursuing a range of technologies including unlicensed LTE (LTE-U, LAA, LWA, MulteFire), VoLTE and eMBMS, as they seek to maximize the value of their LTE investments while addressing mobile data traffic growth.
Further, though 5G is yet to be standardized, vendors are aggressively investing in 5G development efforts with a principal focus on new air interface transmission schemes, higher frequency bands and advanced antenna technologies such as Massive MIMO and beamforming.
SNS Research said that, as a natural upgrade path for mobile operators from the previously detached GSM, CDMA and TD-SCDMA ecosystems, LTE has emerged as the first truly global mobile communications standard.
While LTE and LTE-Advanced deployments are still underway, mobile operators and vendors have already embarked on R&D initiatives to develop so-called "5G" networks, with a vision of commercialization by 2020.