Although LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks that provide lightning fast data transfer, will not be available before 2010, it is expected to become very popular. According to the forecast of ABI Research market analyst, by 2013 more than 32 million subscribers will be using the lighting fast mobile internet provided by LTE. Three of the largest network operators, China Mobile, Vodafone and Verizon Wireless, have already sketched up their plans regarding LTE introduction. ABI Research considers LTE to become highly popular in Asia, as they estimate at least 12 million subscribers by 2013. The same number is expected in Europe, while in America they forecast 8 million subscribers. The global existence of LTE is clear, since NTT DoCoMo and KDD have both voted on it, so there is a possibility for creating a really uniform standard.
The fact that China delayed the introduction of 3G might also mean that the majority of network operators would prefer LTE, skipping 3G solutions. Of course we shouldn't forget their own TD-SCDMA solutions, which cannot spread too much though, as network operators do not want to invest billions in such a solution that will have to be replaced in 2-3 years. LTE solutions require new hardware and software, which, however, will be available well before 2010, in order to provide compatibility with current networks. This also means that manufacturers of networking equipment will have to make their solutions available as fast as possible. We also shouldn't forget that LTE is mostly for data transfer and not voice transfer. According to this, ABI Research forecast sales of 53 million USB LTE adapters by 2013. Since LTE will be a direct challenger of home DSL internet, we should expect a number of internet tablets (MID - Mobile Internet Device) and ultraportable laptops (UMPC) to appear with an embedded LTE network adapter.
Translated by Szaszati
