Status of the LTE Ecosystem

Prepared by GSA based on information researched and

stored in the GSA Analyser for Mobile Broadband Devices

May 2018

©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association 1

 Outline
This report by GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) confirms 11,489 LTE
user devices identified as launched, from 637 manufacturers, and provides an
analysis of the main developments and trends. This new total is 8% higher than
the number of devices reported by GSA in February 2018. This report covers LTE
FDD and TDD (TD-LTE) models and LTE-related cellular IoT devices standardized
by 3GPP as UE Cat-M1 and UE Cat-NB1. LTE is the fastest developing mobile
communications system technology ever and is a mainstream communications
11,489 LTE user
devices have been system technology with global acceptance, and supported by a mature and
identified in the fast expanding devices ecosystem.
market from 637
manufacturers As the LTE ecosystem is fast maturing and 5G devices are around the corner
(for instance, Samsung’s SFG-D0100 5G FWA home router has been certified
by the US FCC), future editions of this report will track only advanced LTE
devices, as well as 5G devices.

LTE user devices

GSA monitors and researches worldwide mobile broadband developments
and publishes facts, statistics and trends. There are 675 LTE/LTE-Advanced
The number of LTE commercial networks (GSA: NTS Database May 2018). There were 2.80 billion
user devices has LTE subscriptions globally by the end of Q4 2017 (Ovum WCIS provided to GSA
grown 8% since on 21 March 2018). LTE accounts for 35.7% of mobile subscriptions globally.
the last report in
February 2018 There are 11,489 LTE user devices including frequency and operator variants
from 637 suppliers verified in GSA’s GAMBoD database – an 8% increase since
the last report in February 2018. The number of devices continues to grow
steadily.

GSA Report | May 2018 | Status of the LTE Ecosystem

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 Figure 1: LTE user devices growth

Form factor

The phone form factor has the largest ecosystem with 7,523 phones announced,
including operator and frequency variants, giving a 65.5% share of all LTE
7,523 LTE phones, devices. The LTE router and LTE-connected tablet PC segments (1,908 and 774
1,908 routers, 774 devices respectively) are also large, and the module segment (783 devices) is
LTE tablets and growing fast. We have counted 34 LTE-connected asset trackers (a new form
783 LTE modules
factor in the GAMBoD database).
have been
launched
Figure 2: 11,489 LTE user devices by form factor, May 2018

GSA Report | May 2018 | Status of the LTE Ecosystem

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 LTE device frequency bands
Most devices operate in the FDD mode while the number of terminals that
support LTE TDD (TD-LTE) continues to grow: 4,770 (41.5% of) LTE devices
support the LTE TDD (TD-LTE) mode.

LTE networks are operating commercially in many bands. Table 1 (LTE-FDD)

& Table 2 (LTE-TDD) confirm the frequency bands that are most supported by
the devices ecosystem.
Table 1: LTE FDD user devices - frequency bands supported by the ecosystem
LTE FDD Band Number of Devices
1800 MHz band 3 7,731 devices
2600 MHz band 7 6,974 devices
2100 MHz band 1 6,282 devices
800 MHz band 20 4,558 devices
850 MHz band 5 3,876 devices
900 MHz band 8 3,487 devices
AWS band 4 3,113 devices
1900 MHz band 2 2,990 devices
700 MHz band 17 2,171 devices
700 MHz band 13 1,163 devices
APT700 band 28 1,211 devices
700 MHz band 12 1,058 devices
1900 MHz band 25 581 devices

Table 2: LTE TDD user devices - frequency bands supported by the ecosystem
LTE TDD Band Number of Devices
2300 MHz band 40 3,779 devices
2600 MHz band 38 2,906 devices
2600 MHz band 41 2,755 devices
1900 MHz band 39 2,140 devices
3500 MHz band 42 202 devices
3700 MHz band 43 156 devices

Note 1: Manufacturers have not declared operating frequencies or fallback modes for some products
Note 2: Certain products are carrier or country specific and are therefore not available in all markets
Note 3: A number of devices are currently listed as band “others”

FDD ecosystem
1800 MHz: largest ecosystem

1800 MHz is the most popular spectrum for LTE deployments; LTE1800,
band 3 is used in 320 LTE networks globally (37.2% of the total).

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 1800 MHz (3GPP band 3) has the largest LTE user devices ecosystem. 7,731
LTE1800 (band 3) user devices are announced in the market, i.e. 67.3% of LTE
devices can operate in band 3 spectrum.

APT700 band
APT700 has
potential for LTE The APT700 FDD band plan (3GPP Band 28) consists of 2 x 45 MHz bands
deployments
plus a 10 MHz guard band, in spectrum between 703 and 748 MHz for the
in markets
representing 4 uplink, and between 758 and 803 MHz for the downlink. APT700 is available
billion people on a near-global basis, with the potential to be used for LTE deployments in
markets representing approaching 4 billion people. For more information
about APT700 developments worldwide including spectrum assignments and
network deployments see http://www.gsacom.com

There are 1,211 APT700 band 28 devices of all types announced by many
suppliers across all price points. 10.5% of all LTE devices can operate on band 28.

US WCS 2.3 GHz spectrum

LTE networks are being deployed in band 30 (2305–2315 MHz/2350–2360 MHz)

spectrum. GSA is tracking the supporting ecosystem and confirms 156 band
30 user devices are announced, up from 131 in February 2018.

LTE in 450 MHz band (LTE450)

3GPP band 31 devices (452.5–457.5 MHz/462.5–467.5 MHz) are included in

GSA’s tracking. 107 LTE450 devices have been announced, up from 85 in our
February 2018 report.

US CBRS (3500 MHz band 48)

Devices capable of operating in the CBRS band are identified in GSA’s research
and are searchable via GAMBoD. There are 40 devices announced (up from 10
in February): 32 are routers, and there are two each of modules, USB modems
and femtocells. It is likely that these devices will be based on radios developed
for former WiMAX spectrum or other spectrum in the 3500 MHz range as no
new silicon for 3500 MHz mobile devices is yet commercially available. Mobile
CBRS devices are not expected for some months.

TDD ecosystem
3GPP decided from the beginning that LTE must support both FDD and TDD
modes with the minimum possible difference between the two modes. The
emphasis has been on leveraging synergies between the modes to the largest

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 extent possible. The result is that almost all parts of the LTE specifications are
the same for both FDD and TDD. For the current worldwide LTE-TDD market
situation including network deployments and commercial launches see Evolution
from LTE to 5G – January 2018 on the GSA website.

There are 4,770 The LTE-TDD user devices ecosystem is well established with 4,770 devices, i.e.,
devices launched over 41% of LTE devices support the LTE-TDD (TD-LTE) mode, supporting the
supporting
TD-LTE mode, growing number of LTE operators using unpaired spectrum. The smartphone
including 3,249 is the largest device category: 3,249 phones are included in the GSA GAMBoD
phones database.

Bands 40 (2.3 GHz) and 38 (2.6 GHz) have the largest choice of TDD terminals
with bands 39 and 41 also being mature.

•• Terminal support for band 40 = 79.2% (of LTE-TDD devices announced)

•• Terminal support for band 38 = 60.9%
•• Terminal support for band 41 = 57.8%
•• Terminal support for band 39 = 44.9%
•• Terminal support band 42 = 4.2%
•• Terminal support band 43 = 3.3%
There is a good choice of multi-band and dual mode FDD-TDD devices. The
3/5/40 band combination (relevant in India, for example) has 1,567 devices.

Many operators are committed to deploying LTE-TDD in 3.4–3.8 GHz spectrum

(3GPP bands 42, 43), representing an important opportunity for the wireless
industry globally. There are 202 devices announced that operate in band 42
and 156 devices that operate in band 43.

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Figure 3: LTE-TDD user devices by form factor

Fallback, UE categories and feature support

LTE/3G fallback support

The vast majority of LTE devices can operate on a 3G technology, with key
fallbacks as follows:

•• 8,270 devices (72% of the total) are known to be able to operate on

either HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+ or 3C-HSPA+
•• 5,578 devices (49%) are known to support DC-HSPA+
•• 1,658 devices (14%) are known to support TD-SCDMA
•• 1,348 devices (13%) are known to support EV-DO
•• 54% of LTE phones are known to support DC-HSPA +
•• 41% of LTE tablets are known to support DC-HSPA +
Note that not all vendors publish fallback technology details; our percentages
are based on the total number of devices in the GAMBoD database, so should
be considered minimum values.

Category 4 UE devices

Many operators have launched or are deploying networks supporting UE

Category 4 devices. UE device Category 4 offers theoretical peak downlink rate
up to 150 Mbit/s with peak uplink up to 50 Mbit/s on compatible networks. LTE-
Advanced deployment is now well established with wide-scale commercialization

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 of carrier aggregation to combine different spectrum bands for greater
bandwidth. There are 6,522 devices (57% of LTE devices) that support speeds
up to Category 4 (excluding higher UE categories).

Category 9 and above UE devices (DL/UL)

•• 98 Cat-9 devices are launched (450/50 Mbit/s)

15 Cat-18 devices
have been added •• 54 Cat-11 devices are launched (600/50 Mbit/s)
to the database
since February •• 95 Cat-12 devices are launched (600/100 Mbit/s)
•• 38 Cat-13 devices are launched (390/150 Mbit/s)
•• 12 Cat-15 devices are launched (up to 750 Mbit/s DL)
•• 38 Cat-16 devices are launched (up to 1 Gbit/s DL)
•• 15 Cat-18 devices are launched (up to 1.174 Gbit/s DL).
There has been some correction to the device specfications since our last
report. The fastest (Cat-18) devices have all been added to the database since
February, and include flagship phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S9, Asus
ZenFone 5Z, Huawei P20, Sony Xperia XZ2 and Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S, along with
the LM960 module from Telit.

Note that not all vendors publish details of UE category or up/downlink speeds.

For updates on global LTE-Advanced and Gigabit LTE network deployments

see relevant reports at http://www. gsacom.com

VoLTE, ViLTE and EVS user devices

20% of LTE Operators worldwide are investing in VoLTE enabling an HD voice experience
phones support
for LTE users. GSA has recorded 1,656 VoLTE-capable devices (up from 1,565
VoLTE
in February 2018) including carrier and frequency variants. Of these devices,
1,495 are phones, which means 20% of LTE phones announced are known to
support VoLTE. The database lists 13 devices supporting ViLTE. There are 149
devices in the database supporting EVS (Enhanced Voice Services); for more
detail see the GSA’s special report on this technology.

eMBMS (LTE Broadcast) and PTT (Push-to-Talk)

Devices capable of supporting LTE Broadcast services are identified in GSA’s

research with 28 devices recorded – up from 15 in the February report. Most
of these devices are indoor CPE (routers). There are 50 devices (46 of them
phones, and most from specialist vendors of ruggedised equipment) supporting
the Push-to-Talk (PTT) feature.

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Cellular IoT LPWA devices

LTE Technologies Characteristics Devices Announced

LTE Cat-1 Up to 10 Mbit/s; 20 MHz 142
LTE-M (Cat-M1) Up to 1 Mbit/s; 1.4 MHz 76
NB-IoT (Cat-NB1) 10s of kbit/s to 100s of kbit/s; 65
180 kHz narrowband

All Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1 devices announced are modules, except for eight
Cat-M1 asset trackers, one Cat-M1 router, six Cat-NB1 asset trackers and one
Cat-NB1 smart watch.

LTE devices for use in unlicensed spectrum

•• 21 LAA devices announced (up from 15 in February)

•• 43 LTE-U devices announced (up from 42 in February)
•• 16 LWA devices announced.
For more details of the use of these technologies, see the GSA report LTE in
Unlicensed Spectrum: Trials, Deployments and Devices on the GSA website.

The expanding devices ecosystem

4G/LTE headlines often focus on ever-rising performance milestones and
successes of LTE and LTE-Advanced systems and device capabilities. It is
equally important that there is a good choice of LTE user terminals to meet the
needs of developing markets, where cost factors and flexibility are particularly
important, and can assist to open new segments in developed markets.
GSA researches The GSA devices database (GAMBoD) includes an extensive list of types of
a very broad
range of LTE LTE-connected terminals (phones, MiFis, CPE, tablet PCs, dongles, smart
devices and watches, cameras, drones, car hotspots, etc.) including many produced by
manufacturers OEM/ODM manufacturers, as well as the premium mobile phone brands.
GSA regularly reaches out to low-cost OEM/ODM suppliers of 4G/LTE phones,
tablet PCs, routers etc, based in China, India and other locations and includes
many of their products in the GAMBoD database. If you have details about
products you would like included in this database, please contact us at
research@gsacom.com

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 Devices analysis using GAMBoD
This status report and the devices database are updated quarterly. GAMBoD
enables searches of GSA’s devices databases by supplier, form factor, features,
peak downlink and uplink speeds, and operating frequency. Results are
presented as lists, spreadsheets or charts. Charts may be used in documents
or presentations, referencing GSA as the source. Visit gsacom.com/gambod.
Search criteria are:

•• Manufacturer name
•• Product model number or name
•• Form factor
•• FDD and TDD spectrum bands
•• UE categories (including IoT device categories)
•• Support for VoLTE, ViLTE and EVS
•• Support for eMBMS (LTE Broadcast)
•• Support for 4x4 MIMO
•• Support for 256QAM (downlink)
•• Support for unlicensed bands LTE-U/LAA/LWA
•• Support for PTT
•• Ruggedised products
•• 3G fallback technology supported: HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, EV-DO, or
TD-SCDMA
Access to GAMBoD is available to GSA Members and Associates. The LTE Devices
database is available to Mobile Network Operators. Other companies can
subscribe to the GAMBoD databases. For more info email info@gsacom.com.

GSA Report | May 2018 | Status of the LTE Ecosystem

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association
 About GSA
GSA (the Global mobile Suppliers Association) is a not-for-profit industry
organisation representing companies across the worldwide mobile ecosystem
engaged in the supply of infrastructure, semiconductors, test equipment,
devices, applications and mobile support services.

GSA actively promotes the 3GPP technology road-map – 3G, 4G, 5G – and
is a single source of information resource for industry reports and market
intelligence. GSA Members drive the GSA agenda and define the communications
and development strategy for the Association.

Membership of GSA is open to any supplier of products; systems or services

related to the mobile industry and brings many benefits including access to
the GAMBoD database. The range of benefits includes enhanced discussion,
networking and influencing opportunities on the key industry topics, and
unique promotional/visibility opportunities for your company name, capabilities,
positioning and messages. More details can be found at https://gsacom.com/
gsa-membership/

News/updates: RSS Feed: https://gsacom.com/rss-feeds/

GSA LinkedIn group: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2313721

Twitter: www.twitter.com/gsacom

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Global-mobile-Suppliers-Association-
GSA/123462771012551

Contact
GSA Secretariat

Email: research@gsacom.com

Tel: +44 330 113 1572

GSA website: https://gsacom.com

NOTE: Errors and omission excepted

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©Copyright 2018 Global mobile Suppliers Association