While China Mobile has successfully promoted TD-LTE - a China-developed version of LTE (Long Term Evolution) - as an international standard, TD-LTE has lagged behind LTE FDD (frequency division multiplexing) in global development, according to Digitimes Research.
As of the end of the second quarter of 2013, there were 194 LTE FDD mobile telecom carriers with more than 120 million subscribers in total around the world, but only 18 TD-LTE operators with fewer than four million subscribers, Digitimes Research cited statistics by Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) as indicating.
A total of 948 models of LTE-enabled terminal devices were available as of the end of the second quarter, including 316 smartphones, as well as a number of routers and dongles.
The US was the largest LTE market accounting for 53% of the global total of LTE subscribers, followed by South Korea (22%) and Japan (15%). Verizon Wireless was the globally largest LTE operator, followed by NTT DoCoMo, AT&T, SK Telecom and Sprint Nextel.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Special Report (TD-LTE market developments and forecast, 2014-2016). Visit our latest Special reports.