LTE to be as successful as other mobile technologies - study

LTE will be as successful as the mobile technologies that preceded it with LTE-TDD precipitating the demise of Wimax which will peak by 2015, according to a study by WiseHarbor Research. Speaking at the LTE World Summit, WiseHarbor founder Keith Mallinson said mobile broadband will do for internet connections-averaging several gigabytes usage per month by 2020-what 2G has achieved over the last fifteen years in providing voice and text communication to more than half the world's population with 5 billion connections, including those with multiple subscriptions. Increasing demand for mobile broadband and new types of devices will make up for saturating demand and price erosion in mature phone markets with voice and SMS. Two-sided operator charging, of content providers as well as end users, will become the norm. Mobile device sales will grow from 1.6 billion units in 2010 to 3.9 billion in 2025, including phones, new personal devices such as tablets and a variety of machines, such as cars and utility meters, which are currently mostly unconnected. Handset revenues will flatten, approaching 2015, following current buoyancy in average selling prices with the smartphone surge. Total global mobile connections in service will rise to 21.5 billion (2.7 per head of population) by 2025. While data traffic grows more than 1,000-fold, operator revenue yield per megabyte will decline from USD 100 with SMS, USD 1 in voice and USD 0.1 with mobile data in 2010 to USD 0.001 with data predominating in 2025 (global averages including postpaid and prepaid plans). LTE is set to become the leading technology by around the end of the decade with WCDMA-based HSPA Evolved technologies remaining very strong in the marketplace. GSM and CDMA will also continue significantly beyond 2020. Mobile operator equipment expenditures will increase at an annual average of 3.3 percent net of inflation, with most growth in developing regions.