June 12, 2013
Speaking of mobile data, Phil Goldstein of Fierce Wireless reports that, according to a new report, the age when LTE is the dominant way to connect will soon be here:
The number of LTE subscribers in the United States will continue to increase markedly over the next few years, with the total number of LTE customers representing 70 percent of all U.S. mobile subscriptions by 2017, according to a new report from research firm Pyramid Research.
According to an excerpt of the Pyramid report, “USA: Operator Need for LTE Spectrum and Scale to Reshape Telecom Market through M&A,” U.S. LTE subscriptions are expected to reach 262 million by 2017.
The good news, spectrum-wise, is that LTE is more efficient when it comes to airwaves usage. The troubling news, however, is that as more people jump on the mobile broadband bandwagon, that spectrum efficiency will likely be canceled out by the millions of new users.