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GSA becomes latest outfit to hail 4G subscriber milestone.
Global LTE subscriptions topped 1 billion by the end of last year, according to figures released this week by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).
Connections increased by 156 million in the final three months of 2015, reaching 1.07 billion by 31 December, the GSA said, adding that it expects LTE and LTE-Advanced connections to overtake 3G in 2020.
"A daily average of almost 1.7 million LTE subscriptions were being signed up during Q4 2015 and the rate of LTE subscriptions growth is accelerating," said Alan Hadden, vice president of research at the GSA, in a statement on Monday. "LTE technology is now being used by one in seven mobile subscriptions worldwide."
480 operators in 157 countries have commercially launched LTE networks, according to the industry group.
The GSA has become the third outfit to hail the 1 billionth LTE subscriber milestone in recent weeks.
In February, GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, announced that global 4G connections had surpassed 1 billion by the end of 2015, and are on track to account for a third of all mobile connections by 2020.
Meanwhile, analyst firm Ovum in late January also announced that LTE subscriptions topped 1 billion during the final quarter of last year, driven primarily by soaring uptake in China.
Ovum sees LTE subscriptions doubling by 2017 and tripling by 2019, driven by cheaper smartphones and mobile broadband becoming increasingly seen as a necessity.
