By Ibrahim Olukotun
Lagos. February 9, 2013: A report by Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has showed that with 221 LTE smartphones, including operator and frequency variants devices leads the array of 666 devices that can operate on Long Term Evolution (LTE) platform.
LTE is the fastest developing mobile system technology ever, according to the report, which shows that smartphones are witnessing a 360 per cent annual growth making them the largest device category.
GSA comprising suppliers of telecoms equipment who also provides reports, facts, analysis and information explaining market developments and trends also confirmed that 87 manufactures who are its members have already developed devices that can operate on the FDD and/or TDD modes of the LTE system.
It tracks manufacturer names and models, form factors, operating frequencies, and fallback technologies that are also supported as customers move outside LTE coverage areas (i.e. to access HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, EV-DO, or TD-SCDMA systems).
Alan Hadden, President of the GSA, also says that 450 LTE devices can also operate on HSPA networks, including 201 products that incorporate 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+ capabilities.
A total of 193 devices can operate on EV-DO systems. “LTE is supported in the most popular smartphones from all leading brands. The number of LTE-enabled tablets almost tripled during the past year”, he adds.
Breakdown of LTE user devices by form factor according to the report are: , 221 Smartphones, 2 PC cards, 4 Femtocells, 19 Notebooks, 53 Tablets, 64 Modules,102 Dongles, 201 Routers totalling 666 user devices as at January 31, 2013).
GSA says that some products are carrier or country specific and are not available in all markets. GSA represents GSM/EDGE/WCDMA-HSPA/LTE suppliers, providing reports, facts, analysis and information explaining market developments and trends.
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