Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is making an impact globally for many different industry sectors. It is particularly useful for mobile devices, data terminals and IoT, which can consume a great deal of bandwidth. This article looks at the market in general, adoption trends, and challenges it will face out to 2026.
Increased need for higher data transmission and a tight spectrum for communications means that the LTE market is likely to grow, driven by the needs of industrial sector users, including utilities, as well as consumers as the market matures.
The global private LTE market is estimated to be $4.79 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $9.2 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 14% (according to Berkshire Hathaway's Business Wire).
Major companies operating in the global LTE market include AT&T, Huawei Technologies, Verizon Wireless, Nokia Solutions and Networks, Sprint Corporation, Alcatel-Lucent, T-Mobile US, LM Ericsson, China Mobile, and Bharti Airtel.
Market Drivers
Service providers are experiencing increasing demand for high-speed wireless networks. The need for online communications has gained momentum across all areas as online and mobile communications expand. LTE offers enhancements to existing mobile technologies and provides operators with the capacity and speed to handle a considerable increase in data traffic. The technology provides greater data rates when compared to competing technologies by using radio waves in the same bandwidth. This will enable industries to meet the needs of government customers, commercial sectors and retail consumers. For example, many countries are developing smart cities, with buildings both producing and consuming power: this needs real-time two-way data transmission and control to be feasible. As conventional bandwidth gets clogged, the realistic upgrade option is 4G/5G LTE.
The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing massive growth in LTE networks. Many companies in the region are investing heavily in the technology, believing it will enhance their offerings to customers. India, China and Japan are in the driving seat of this development.
Between 2022 and 2025, communications service operators in the Asia Pacific region are planning to invest US$227 billion in 5G deployments. Cloud storage and applications, edge computing, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and the Internet of Things will all play a key role in realizing the full potential of LTE services.
Challenges LTE Technology Faces
There are significant issues of compatibility between networks and technologies. 4G LTE was supposed to fix this problem, but it still remains. Different competing providers mean incomplete interoperability between networks. This leads to the fear that picking the wrong technology might mean that a user will be left with a “dead-end” system at some time in the future, so many potential customers are waiting to see which will prevail.
Lack of roaming is another issue. While this is relatively common with 2G/3G systems, 4G LTE is not sufficiently developed. Users expect instant access to content at any time and the lack of roaming is a negative factor in take up.
Benefits to Users
The convergence of cloud computing, communications technologies and IoT could potentially unlock value for many different sectors. With more effective use of data, and reduced storage costs, together with machine learning and AI, new understanding of customers via smart metering could be optimized.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications via LTE could improve the operation of utilities services. Repairing power lines is a basic need which will not change. LTE sensor systems could diagnose faults, and an advanced logistics system could direct the repair crew on the most efficient route to reach the malfunctioning device, with the relevant components, so downtime is reduced to a minimum. With more resilience needed in the face of greater weather hazards, as seen in Florida recently, efficient repair systems will be a priority for utility companies.
Key Developments
Some of the major players are working on collaborations and partnerships. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a group of standards organizations that are working globally to ensure compatibility in telecommunications fields and are steadily rolling out 5G technical specifications to ensure that constructors of LTE devices are working to the same parameters.
New products and services are being offered to commercial and retail users continuously as the major telecommunications corporations struggle to gain market share. This is driving a huge increase in the potential for LTE in the long term. According to the industry organization GSA, 336 operators have deployed/launched LTE-Advanced networks in 151 countries or territories. Many operators are investing in Gigabit LTE technologies. Their latest report from September 2022 confirms that 22,311 LTE user devices have been announced — including commercial 5G LTE devices — from 991 manufacturers.
Conclusion
LTE is a family of technologies that is burgeoning globally, driven particularly by the major Asia-Pacific market. Commercial necessities will mean that many industrial sectors, including utilities, will need to adopt these systems in order to remain competitive.