[GSA]: 20% of LTE Operators Launched LTE-Advanced (88 vs. 20 in February)

GSA reports that "LTE-Advanced deployments have taken firm hold in all markets around the world with 131 i.e. over 30% of operators in 60 countries investing in LTE-Advanced system deployments, as reported in GSA's July Evolution to LTE report. Carrier aggregation is the first LTE-Advanced feature to be commercialised enabling operators to efficiently combine spectrum assets to deliver an improved customer experience of mobile broadband.

A total of 88 operators, i.e. over 20% of all LTE operators, have commercially launched LTE-Advanced service in 45 countries:

• 15 LTE-Advanced networks support Category 4 devices (above 100 Mbps up to 150 Mbps peak downlink speed)
   
• 73 networks (83%) support Category 6 devices (above 150 Mbps up to 300 Mbps) with most (37 networks) supporting the top theoretical peak downlink speed of 300 Mbps
    
• In addition, another 22 are in deployment, trials or study phases

[Compare to the Feb'15 report - "[GSA]: 20 Operators Deployed 300 Mbps LTE-A" - here]

See "GSA says Investments in LTE-Advanced systems confirm global Cat 6 and Cat 9 growth trend" - here.