Evolution from LTE to 5G
April 2017 Update
T his report is the latest update in a series
of studies published by GSA tracking the
development of mobile technology markets
worldwide. Previous editions of the reports
were entitled Evolution to LTE. However, in
recognition of the fact that many operators
are now deploying enhancements to their
LTE networks and working towards the future
deployment of 5G networks, we have adjusted
the title to reflect their new focus. We will of
course continue to track LTE deployments in
markets where that still has to occur.
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
We summarize network trials, deployments,
and the availability of services across a variety
of technology innovations and spectrum
bands. GSA welcomes additions to the
database of information being maintained by
GSA. The database also contains information
about spectrum bands and bandwidth
used, where available. If you have additional
information please contact info@gsacom.com
We make no guarantees that the information
is complete, but reasonable efforts have been
made to be comprehensive and accurate. The
next update of this report will be in July 2017.
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Introduction
LTE is a global success, connecting over 1 in
4 mobile users worldwide and is the fastest
developing mobile system technology ever.
LTE is specified by 3GPP as a single global
standard for paired and unpaired spectrum
users. The vast majority of the standard is the
same for FDD and TDD.
GSAs Evolution from LTE to 5G reports
provides an independent in-depth status
view and analysis of the global 4G/LTE, LTE-
Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G markets,
supported by facts, and confirms the trends.
Information is obtained, analysed and verified
by GSA. This report is quarterly and referenced
by industry across the whole ecosystem.
Key market facts
By the end of March 2017 GSA reports there
were:
774 operators investing in LTE in 202
countries
591 commercially launched LTE or LTE-
Advanced networks in 189 countries,
including 97 LTE-TDD (TD-LTE) launched in
56 countries
106 commercial VoLTE networks in 55
countries, and 167 operators investing in
VoLTE in 74 countries
195 launched networks are LTE-Advanced
or LTE-Advanced Pro, in 95 countries
GSA forecasts c. 646 commercially
launched LTE networks by end-2017
4 NB-IoT and 2 LTE-M networks are
commercially launched, with 40 NB-IoT
and 12 LTE-M networks planned or being
trialled
18 operators, at least, have now made
public commitments to deployment of pre-
standards 5G networks in 13 countries.
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
LTE deployments
The drive towards LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-
Advanced Pro and increasingly 5G for operators
is more capacity, enhanced performance and
improved efficiencies to lower delivery cost.
Compared with 3G, LTE offers a big step in
the user experience, enhancing demanding
apps such as interactive TV, video blogging,
advanced gaming, and professional services.
Deployment of LTE-Advanced technologies
and particularly carrier aggregation takes
performance to a new level, and is a major
774 Operators
Investing in LTE in
202 Countries
current focus of the industry. Interest in LTE-
Advanced Pro is high too, bringing with it
new, globally standardised LPWA solutions:
LTE Cat-M1 (LTE-M, eMTC) and Cat-NB1 (NB-
IoT) with new business opportunities. And
whilst LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro
solutions have yet to be deployed by many
operators, vendors and network operators
are already looking towards 5G, and its
potential to meet future capacity, connectivity
and service requirements.
LTE is a full IP network and harmonizes with
other radio access technologies and is the
natural evolution choice for GSM/HSPA,
CDMA and WiMAX operators, enabling a single
unifying global standard supporting TDD &
FDD modes.
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Spectrum for LTE deployments
Pressure for spectrum is high and operators
should deploy the most efficient technologies
using paired spectrum where available. LTE
can be deployed in existing 2G or 3G bands
and/or new bands e.g. 2.6 GHz or digital
dividend spectrum (700/800 MHz) for more
geographical coverage and improved in-
building performance. 2.6 GHz is the capacity
band in most regions. 1800 MHz (band 3) is
the mainstream choice for LTE in the majority
of regions. 700 MHz (bands 12, 13, 14 and 17)
and 800 MHz (band 20 and regional variations)
are firmly established as the main LTE bands
for extended coverage and deepest building
penetration.
1800 MHz (band 20)
continues to be the
mainstream choice
for LTE
Adoption of the APT700 MHz band plan for
LTE network deployments in markets across
the APAC and Latin America regions and in
Europe represents a major opportunity for
near-global spectrum harmonization, paving
the way for ensuring the greatest economies
of scale for devices and capacity for mobile
broadband services, and for roaming. The FDD
plan configuration (band 28) has attracted
unanimous support. Meanwhile the global
success of mobile broadband enabled by LTE
has led to additional frequency bands being
allocated and standardised. In some regions
450 MHz spectrum is attracting interest for
rural coverage and M2M service applications.
LTE450 is launched in several markets.
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
Evolutions of LTE standards now completed
enable the possibility to extend the benefits
of LTE Advanced to unlicensed spectrum. Four
main options for deploying LTE in unlicensed
spectrum are available depending on the
deployment scenario and the market or
region: they are LTE-U, LAA (Licensed Assisted
Access), LWA (LTE-WiFi link Aggregation), and
MulteFire. The 4th option enables LTE to be
deployed only in unlicensed spectrum without
needing a licensed anchor channel.
LTE technology evolution
LTE radio network products incorporate
several features to simplify building and
management of next- generation networks.
Plug-and-play, self-configuration and self-
optimization simplify and reduce network
roll-out and management cost. LTE is being
deployed alongside simplified, IP-based core
and transport networks that are easier to build,
maintain and introduce services on. The 3GPP
core network has also undergone System
Architecture Evolution, optimized for packet
mode and the IP-Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
to support all access technologies, including
fixed access. This allows:
Improvements in latency, capacity, and
throughput
Simplification of the core network, and
optimization for IP traffic, services, and
growth
Simplified support and handover to non-
3GPP access technologies
The resulting evolved packet system comprises
the core network, evolved packet core (EPC)
and radio network. The whole system is often
called LTE.
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Deployment of LTE-Advanced technology is
the key trend globally. Carrier aggregation
was the first feature to be commercialized,
facilitating higher data throughput rates
in both directions, more efficient use of
spectrum assets for network operators, and
an enhanced user experience of mobile
broadband.
LTE-Advanced Pro (Release 13 and later)
features enable the era of Gigabit LTE for
enhanced mobile broadband service (though
devices meeting UE Cat-16 are still some way
from commercialisation). It also opens new
markets: importantly it delivers new globally
standardised solutions LTE Cat-M1 (eMTC,
LTE-M) and Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT) for the vast IoT
Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) market. These
narrowband solutions complement existing
LTE Cat-1 IoT technology. LTE-Advanced Pro
also meets the needs of the mission and
business critical push-to-talk sectors e.g.
Figure 1: Commercial LTE networks 2009 to end-March 2017
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
emergency services, public safety and railway
communications.
Most LTE-Advanced systems today support
Category-6 (300 Mbps downlink) user devices.
The ecosystems of networks and devices
for Category-9 (450 Mbps) and higher are
rapidly developing and 256QAM, high-order
MIMO, more carrier aggregation and LTE-
Advanced Pro features are supporting this
move. The introduction of HD voice services
for LTE users enabled by VoLTE is entering the
mainstream. The market for ViLTE (video over
LTE) is developing. Commercialization of LTE
Broadcast, enabled by eMBMS technology, is
set to develop in 2017.
LTE global status
Previous versions of this report have provided
a full list of LTE deployments. This is still
available as a separate document. This report
summarizes the overall status of the market
and covers recent developments.
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The start of 2017 saw the continued
introduction of LTE to new markets and
regions around the world. Although already
widely deployed, it is still being introduced and
several countries announced LTE services. By
the end of March 2017 there were 591 LTE
networks in service worldwide.
Figure 2: Number of commercial VoLTE networks, by country
Recent months have seen LTE/4G services
introduced by operators in eleven regions/
countries including Antarctica, Barbados,
Congo, Cook Islands, Guyana, Libya,
Madagascar, Somalia, Sudan, Tahiti, and
Trinidad & Tobago. Future launches can be
expected too. By the end of 2017 GSA forecasts
646 LTE networks will be in service. Recent
announcements about plans to introduce
LTE/4G services have come from operators
in El Salvador, Georgia, Tahiti, Tuvalu, and
Vietnam; and new trials have been announced
in Kenya. In total, 774 operators worldwide
have made commitments to LTE.
A significant trend is the discontinuation of 2G
networks, which are being switched off so that
capacity can be re-farmed for LTE services.
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
VoLTE global status
167 operators are investing in VoLTE in
74 countries including 106 operators with
commercially launched VoLTE-HD voice
service in 55 countries.
Operators introducing VoLTE services in the
first three months of 2017 include Proximus
(Belgium), Telekom Slovenije (Slovenia), 3
(Sweden), and O2 (UK); with deployment
announced in the Netherlands by T-Mobile
and trials of, or plans for, VoLTE revealed by
three operators in India (Bharti Airtel, Idea
Cellular and Vodafone).
LTE TDD (TD-LTE) global status
LTE is an open standard developed by 3GPP.
The advanced technological performance of
LTE came with in-built flexibility to operate
in either paired (FDD, or Frequency Division
Duplexing, mode) or unpaired (TDD, or Time
Division Duplexing mode) spectrum and
various channel bandwidths all with a single
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technology. Companies from around the 97 LTE-TDD (TD-LTE) systems are
globe contributed to the LTE standard and its commercially launched in 56 countries.
evolution. Launches were confirmed in the last quarter
by Tiscali (Italy) and Telecom Namibia, both
The emphasis was always to leverage synergies
of which are deploying LTE TDD for fixed
between the two duplex modes to the largest
wireless access as a WiMAX replacement. 32
extent possible. This allows operators to best
operators have deployed converged FDD &
utilize their current network assets, spectrum
TDD networks.
allocations and various bandwidth needs,
while securing support,
Figure 3: Number of commercial networks using TDD
choice and economies bands 38-43
of scale from the global
vendor ecosystem, and
limit potential market
fragmentation.

The result is major

commonality of the LTE
specifications for the FDD
and TDD modes in fact
the vast majority of the
LTE standard is identical
for both modes and the
huge global success of
LTE.

Most LTE deployments

use paired spectrum (FDD). The LTE TDD mode
Figure 3 shows the different spectrum bands
is complementary and the perfect choice
in use in 96 networks (the band used for one
for providing high-speed mobile broadband
commercially launched network has yet to be
access in unpaired spectrum. Many operators
confirmed). Band 40 is the most popular TDD
have deployed both FDD and TDD modes
band. Eight networks are using multiple TDD
in their networks. LTE TDD also provides a
bands.
future-proof evolutionary path for TD-SCDMA,
another 3GPP standard. LTE TDD is an integral LTE-Advanced global status
part of the 3GPP standard, implementing a
As of 31 March 2017, there were 194 LTE-
maximum of commonalities with LTE FDD and
Advanced or LTE-Advanced Pro networks
offering comparable performance and similar
in 95 countries. There are 11 new networks
high spectral efficiency.
since the last edition of the GSAs LTE report at
the end of January 2017. The newly launched
LTE-A networks are shown in Figure 4.

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 6

Figure 4: New LTE-Advanced commercial network launches since the last GSA Evolution to
LTE report - 31 January 2017
Country Operator Date Notes
Announced
Tanzania TTCL November 2016 No further details

British Virgin Flow BVI November 2016 No further details
Islands
Montenegro Crnogorski January 2017 Speeds of 435 Mbit/s; 3CA; 800, 1800 and 2600
MHz bands
Iran Irancell February 2017 Cat-6 modem launched to work in 4.5G network
that covers 152 cities
Hungary
Vodafone February 2017 2 CA; 10 MHz in 800 MHz band + 10 MHz in 1800
MHz band; deployed in Budapest
Samoa Bluesky March 2017 CA in 700 MHz and 1800 MHz bands; around 40
base stations; 50% population coverage
Zambia
Zamtel March 2017 Covers Kitwe, Kalulushi, Chambishi, Chingola,
Chililabombwe, Mufulira and Solwezi
Canada Ice Wireless March 2017 Mobile broadband package launched using newly
upgraded network
Cook Islands Bluesky March 2017 No further details

Philippines Globe March 2017 4 CA in 2.6GHz band (LTE-Advanced Pro)

Kazakhstan Altel April 2017 LTE-A services in 12 cities; speeds up to 225Mbit/s;

2CA. Four more cities planned to be added

By region, the largest number of LTE-Advanced enhancement), WBS and iBurst in South Africa
network launches are in EMEA, followed by (roll-out announced with plans to launch
APAC (see Figure 5). after March 2017), Ultravision (partnering
with Nokia to roll out services in the 2.5 GHz
13 existing LTE-Advanced networks are
band in 2H2017), and ALTAN Redes in Mexico
being extended, or are trialling or adding
(a new wholesale network to be built with
new features. Among the most interesting are
TIM Brazil (planning to use 700 MHz spectrum
Figure 5: LTE-Advanced commercial
to further increase coverage); MTN South networks by region
Africa (trialling 4x4 MIMO); China Unicom
(trialling massive MIMO); and Cosmote Greece
(demonstrating 3x20 MHz carrier aggregation
for 1.2 Gbit/s downstream throughput).

Seven further operators have announced

trials, plans or contracts for LTE-Advanced
networks: Batelco Bahrain (contract with
Ericsson), Telefonica Germany (tests in the
lab and outdoors), Wi-Tribe Pakistan (plans
to launch in five cities), Telefonica O2 in the
UK (contract with Nokia for 4.5G Pro network
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 7
Nokia and others, and using the 700 MHz
band).
The LTE-Advanced network launched by Globe
Telecoms in the Philippines also includes
features making it LTE-Advanced Pro; a new
commercial LTE-Advanced Pro network was
launched by Oredoo Qatar, bringing the
number of commercial LTE-Advanced Pro
networks to 19. New plans for LTE-Advanced
Pro networks were announced by Zain in
Figure 6: Stated maximum downlink speed of the fastest LTE-Advanced &
LTE-Advanced Pro network per country
LTE-Advanced Pro only if they also exhibit
additional Rel-13 features such as those
related to carrier aggregation, modulation
scheme, MIMO, latency and MCPTT (mission-
critical push-to-talk).
Analysing the stated maximum downlink
speeds of the commercial LTE-Advanced
networks by the fastest network per country
(see Figure 6) shows a wide variation.

[Note: 174 operators analysed where maximum speed of commercial network has been stated]

This is unsurprising, as operators around the

Saudi Arabia, STC (Saudi Arabia) and SingTel
world have different amounts of spectrum
in Singapore. Telefonica O2s LTE-Advanced
(numbers of carriers and bandwidth of those
network will also include Pro features.
carriers) that they can aggregate to increase
Vodafone in Romania has demonstrated
maximum throughput. They also vary in terms
5-carrier aggregation (TDD-FDD), with 4x4
of their deployment of additional features
MIMO and 256QAM, which we count as LTE-
such as use of 256QAM modulation and 4x4
Advanced Pro. At least 26 operators are
MIMO. Note also that some operators report
trialling, deploying or planning LTE-Advanced
theoretical downlink speeds; other report live-
Pro networks (based on a combination of
network tested speeds. Also, coverage of the
multiple Rel-13 features). Many operators are
very fast networks varies within countries and
launching, or planning, 3GPP Rel-13-based
by operator: in Australia, Telstras network
NB-IoT and LTE-M networks (see elsewhere
demonstrated just under 1Gbit/s maximum
in this report). We count such networks as
speed but is widely deployed, while Optus
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 8
network demonstrated just over 1Gbit/s Figures 7 & 8 show the distribution across
downlink speed, but is deployed only in one commercial networks where the values are
suburb of Sydney. known. Note that operators with commercial
networks may use different carrier and
Carrier aggregation has been the dominant
band combinations in different parts of
feature of LTE Advanced networks. Varying
their networks, or have run several trials, so
numbers of carriers, and varying amounts
individual operators may have multiple entries
of total bandwidth, have been aggregated in
in the charts. Note also that the charts include
trials and demos, but in commercial networks,
FDD, TDD and mixed-mode CA deployments.
the greatest number of carriers aggregated
(where we have data) is four. Some trials and
demos have aggregated up to 10 carriers.
Figure 7: Percentage of relevant trials, demos and deployments using specific numbers
of aggregated carriers where details known (n=152 for all, and n=71 for commercial
deployments)

Figure 8: Total aggregated bandwidth in relevant CA trials, demos and deployments

where details known (n=104 for all, and n=72 for commercial deployments)

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 9

LTE1800 global status 276 operators have commercially launched
LTE1800 (band 3) systems in 119 countries/
LTE network deployment in 1800 MHz (band
territories either as a single band or as part
3) is mainstream. The motivations are clear:
of a multi-band deployment. Launches have
Coverage area approx. 2 times compared recently been announced by Bluesky in
to deploying in 2.6 GHz band Samoa, which is using 1800 MHz alongside
Possibility to re-use assets including 700 MHz to underpin its LTE-Advanced
antenna cables of GSM1800 or WCDMA- service, and Vodafone in Hungary, which has
HSPA2100 used the spectrum to increase its capacity in
Possibility to deploy multi-RAN with Budapest. Meanwhile other operators have
simultaneous LTE and GSM capabilities been expanding their 1800 MHz coverage: for
1800 MHz band widely available instance Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular
throughout Europe, APAC, MEA, regions of have all introduced LTE services at 1800 MHz
South America thus having the potential to new service areas in India.
to be a core - and global - band for LTE
1800 MHz is the most widely used and prime
deployments
band for LTE globally, deployed in 46.7% of
Operators often have sufficient bandwidth
LTE networks, greatly assisting international
in 1800 MHz to secure the full benefits of
roaming for mobile broadband services. More
LTE
LTE1800 deployments are in progress. 1800
Often easier to re-farm than 900 MHz
MHz mobile licences have been awarded to
Has the largest user device ecosystem
350+ operators in nearly 150 countries.
Can be a transition strategy between HSPA
and availability of new (e.g. 2.6 GHz, digital
dividend) spectrum

Figure 9: Countries with commercial services at 1800 MHz

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 10

APT700 global status Taiwan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tonga, Vanuatu,
Vietnam
Industry support for the APT700 band plan is
strong. Whereas APT700 provides both FDD MEA: UAE confirmed adoption of the
and TDD arrangements, it is the FDD plan APT700 lower 2 x 30 MHz duplexer. This is
that has gained global support from industry also the preferred frequency arrangement
and regulators in markets addressing nearly for 700 MHz allocations in Europe and
4 billion people. The FDD configuration is throughout ITU Region 1.
standardised by 3GPP (band 28) for a 2 x 45
Africa: Zimbabwe
MHz arrangement, with 10 MHz guard band
between downlink and uplink. The APT700 Europe: Compatibility with the APT700
FDD band plan (3GPP Band 28) uses 703-748 band in Europe will be high. In December
MHz for the uplink with 10 MHz guard band 2016 the EU adopted a Decision that
and 758-803 MHz for the downlink. Member states must reassign the 700 MHz
band (694-790 MHz) to wireless broadband
700 MHz is excellent for wide area coverage
services under harmonised technical
in regional and rural environments, and for
conditions by 30 June 2020 (if any are
in-building coverage, and is an important
unable to do so they may decide, for duly
digital dividend arising from the shift by
justified reasons, to delay availability of the
TV broadcasters to digital transmissions.
band by up to 2 years). Member states must
Adoption of the APT700 FDD band plan by many
also adopt and make public a national plan
countries has created a major opportunity for
by 30 June 2018, describing how each will
near global spectrum harmonization for LTE,
implement the decision. Licensing actions
ensuring the greatest economies of scale for
are committed, completed, underway
user devices, capacity for mobile broadband,
or planned in many countries including
and roaming.
Austria, Denmark, Finland, France,
Over 50 countries and territories have Germany, Iceland, Romania, Slovenia, and
allocated, committed to, or recommend the UK.
APT700 FDD (Band 28) for LTE system
APT700 Band 28 is already licensed to mobile
deployments:
operators in many countries, including:
LAC region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaao, Dominican Ecuador, Fiji, Finland*, France*, Germany*,
Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand,
Panama, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru,
Panama, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,
APAC/Oceania: Afghanistan, Australia,
Suriname, Taiwan, Tokelau and Vanuatu.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia,
Those marked * have compatibility with the
Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia,
lower duplexer arrangement of APT700 (703-
Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand,
733 / 758-788 MHz).
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Singapore, South Korea, St. Maarten,

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 11

 Figure 10: Commercial networks using APT700 band 28 (or compatible European bands)

40 operators have now launched commercial services using APT700 band 28, or services in
compatible European bands (CEPT 700). New launches in 2017 include three Finnish operators
(DNA, Elisa and Sonera), Bluesky in Samoa, and Digicel and Flow in the British Virgin Islands.
New deployments have also been announced in Mexico (where ALTN Redes will deploy a
wholesale mobile network at 700 MHz for use by other mobile operators and service providers)
and in Chile, where Telefonica is deploying an NB-IoT network operating at 700 MHz that will be
used to connect smart water meters.

LTE Broadcast / Multicast (eMBMS) global status

LTE Broadcast (also called LTE Multicast)
enabled by eMBMS technology substantially
reduces the bandwidth needed to deliver
multimedia content one-to-many thus
allowing operators to efficiently launch media
services over LTE to meet this demand. It
offers mobile-network operators a profitable
business proposition through service
differentiation, new revenue opportunities,
and more efficient distribution of live and
other digital media. LTE Broadcast enables
multiple users to receive the same content
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
simultaneously. LTE broadcast can deliver
the same content to multiple users with the
capability to support a virtually unlimited
number of users simultaneously, thereby
maintaining efficient use of spectrum and
network investments. LTE Broadcast will open
new business models for mobile network
operators. Other reports on the GSA website
examine the cases for eMBMS.
Numerous network operators have been
testing eMBMS. In a select few cases,
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commercial services have already been Nokia is running a field trial in Munich
launched. Additionally, numerous TV with the Institut fr Rundfunktechnik, the
broadcasters and content owners are research institute of the public broadcasting
engaged in LTE Broadcast trials e.g. BBC (UK), corporations in Austria, Germany and
IRT (Institut fr Rundfunktechnik, research Switzerland and other research partners
institute of broadcasting companies in with the support of Bayerischer Rundfunk,
Austria, Germany and Switzerland, Bavarian the Bavarian public broadcast corporation.
broadcast company, Bayerischer Rundfunk, The research project is funded by Bayerische
and further research partners), TDF (France) Forschungsstiftung (BFS). The wide range
and RAI (Italy). of LTE Broadcast activities worldwide is
summarised in the Figure 11.

Figure 11: LTE Broadcast (eMBMS) trials and deployments

Country Operator eMBMS Status
Australia Telstra Deploying first products expected to launch in 2017
Brazil Claro and NET Trialled
Brazil Vivo No Details

Canada Bell Mobility No details

China China Mobile Trialled

China China Telecom Large scale user trial

France Orange Trialled

France TDF Trialling convergence potential of eMBMS with DVB

Germany IRT Trialling

Germany T-Mobile No details

Germany Vodafone Trialled

Hong Kong China Mobile Demonstrated

Hong Kong PCCW (CSL) Internal Tests

India RJIL Trialled

Indonesia Smartfren Trial planned

Italy RAI Trialling convergence potential of eMBMS with DVB

Italy TIM Trialled

Japan Softbank Trialled

Netherlands KPN Trialled

Philippines Globe Deploying

Philippines Smart Trialled

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 13

Country Operator eMBMS Status
Poland Polkomtel Plus Trialled

Portugal Meo Trialling

Portugal Vodafone No details

Russia Megafon Lab tests

Russia MTS Trialled

Singapore SingTel Trialling

South Korea KT COMMERCIAL

South Korea SK Telecom Development

Spain Vodafone Trialled

Turkey Turkcell Demonstrated

UAE Etisalat Trialling

UK EE with BBC Trialling

UK Three UK Trialling

USA AT&T Trials - Deploying

USA Verizon COMMERCIAL

Vietnam MobiFone MobiTV pilot trial

Telstra has reaffirmed its commitment to
deploy LTE Broadcast across its network.
The first enabled services will be introduced
in 2017, including support for Telstra Media
Services and a new 24x7 linear streaming
channel. These will initially be available on
Samsung devices. Other products on the
roadmap include live sports coverage beyond
stadiums, pre-loading of popular content,
news clips and games highlights. Telstra says
99% of its 4GX network sites are already LTE
Broadcast capable, and it is working with
Ericsson to achieve 100% network coverage
by 2018. Telstra is working with Ericsson and
Expway to introduce Multicast Operation on
Demand (MOOD), as well as Service Continuity
between unicast and broadcast coverage
areas in its network. Following demonstrations
of MOOD by Telstra and Expway at MWC in
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
February 2017, the three partners are currently
engaged in interoperability testing for these
features, with a production pilot planned, and
a target introduction date of November 2017.
In addition, Telstra and Ericsson launched a
trial with Twentieth Century Fox to test LTE
Broadcast for delivery of the latters content.
A one-month trial running from February to
March 2017 enables a closed group of Telstra,
Fox and Ericsson customers equipped with
a trial app to receive personalised pre-loads
of premium content in this case enabling
instant access to blockbuster titles in HD
1080p format.
Separately, Telstra also announced that,
working with Ericsson, Motorola and
Qualcomm, it has delivered LTE-Broadcast-
enabled push-to-talk (PTT) based on 3GPP
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Release 13 standard MC-PTT over LTE. The
technology will in the future enhance Telstras
already available LTE Advanced Network
for Emergency Services (LANES) solution,
providing prioritised access for emergency
services communications. It can also be used
for enterprise PTT services. Further testing
of LTE Broadcast-enabled PTT is planned for
2017 with commercial service launch in 2018.
The partners plan to continue to develop the
full range of 3GPP Mission Critical Push to Talk
Release 13 and 14 capabilities.
IoT global status
2017 has so far seen significant market
development of standardised cellular
networks to support IoT applications. While
nationwide or service launches are still
relatively few in number, city-wide commercial
networks have launched, and the number
of trials and commitments is growing fast.
The GSA report The Evolution to NB-IoT
published in February 2017 contains details of
network launches and trials, modules, devices
Figure 12: IoT network launches, trials, demos and plans by country
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
and platforms supporting NB-IoT / LTE Cat-
NB1 and LTE-M / Cat-M1, and emerging use
cases.
The latest numbers of service launches and
trials as of end-March 2017 is
4 commercial NB-IoT networks (Telus
Canada, T-Mobile Netherlands, Telia
Norway, and Vodafone Spain), with several
more very close to commercial launch
A further 40 networks in 29 countries
trialling, demonstrating or planning
to deploy NB-IoT plus commitments to
development by multi-country operator
groups
2 commercial LTE-M networks (Verizon
USA and AT&T USA)
12 other networks in 10 countries trialling,
demonstrating or planning to deploy
LTE-M.
The distribution by country of these networks
is shown in Figure 12.
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5G global status
An important milestone was reached in March
2017 when the 3GPP agreed on an intermediate
target for early completion of Non-Standalone
(NSA) 5G NR mode for enhanced mobile
broadband. NSA mode anchors connections
in 3G, using 5G NR carriers to augment data
rates and reduce latency where needed. It
was agreed to work towards finalisation of
the NSA standard by March 2018. At the same
time, the group said it was still committed to
completing the standard for Standalone (SA)
5G NR mode by September 2018. In February
2017, a large group of operators and vendors
had lent their public support to this new
approach, expressing the view that it will
enable standards-based field trials to begin in
2019.
Testing and trialling of new pre-standard 5G
technologies is already well underway. In the
past three months alone, we have identified
at least 25 operators from 15 countries that
have demonstrated 5G technologies, or
announced 5G tests, or trials.
Figure 13: Countries where operators have announced pre-standards 5G deployment
timetables (earliest launch date announced per country)
Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association
Meanwhile, operators have started providing
clarity about their intentions in terms of 5G, or
at least pre-standards 5G launch timetables.
Recent announcements have come from:
Sonera in Finland, which plans to launch a
5G network in Helsinki in 2018
TIM, which plans to launch a network in
Turin during 2017
Etisalat, which has announced a 2019
launch
Verizon, which intends to start pre-
commercial services with customers
during the first half of 2017
At least 18 operators have now made
public commitments to deployment of pre-
standards 5G networks in 13 countries, with
the earliest launch dates currently planned
by operators in Italy and the US. Figure 13
shows the countries and current planned
dates for the earliest 5G launches in those
countries. We have only included countries
where operators have announced their plans,
not countries where governments have made
general statements of intention (for instance
in the UK).
16
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/

Website http://www.gsacom.com
News/updates RSS Feed: https://gsacom.com/rss-feeds/
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NOTES:
Errors & Omissions Excepted

Contact
Contact: GSA Secretariat

Email: info@gsacom.com
Tel: +44 330 113 1572

GSA website: www.gsacom.com

Copyright 2017 Global mobile Suppliers Association 17