Market research firm Infonetics Research recently released its LTE Infrastructure and Subscribers market size and forecast report, which tracks E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) macrocells (a.k.a. enhanced NodeBs), evolved packet core (EPC) infrastructure, and Long Term Evolution subscribers.

“Despite NTT DoCoMo’s shift in topology aimed at cutting LTE deployment costs by leveraging the existing W-CDMA footprint with remote radio head (RRH)-based expansion, there is no slowdown foreseen in the LTE market, only acceleration. In addition to Verizon Wireless’s aggressive LTE roadmap, more mobile operators have committed to LTE, including China Mobile and China Telecom, with a massive TD-LTE rollout expected in China by 2012. There will be a dozen live LTE networks by the end of 2010, and the total number of committed LTE launches has grown to 64 so far, with more commitments expected,” notes Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research. LTE MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• The LTE infrastructure market is forecast by Infonetics Research to reach $11.4 billion by 2014, fueled by macrocell eNodeB deployments
• To fully support the speeds it promises, LTE will be deployed in dense coverage configurations, with microcells, picocells, and possibly femtocells playing a significant role
• While TeliaSonera launched the world’s first commercial LTE network in Oslo and Stockholm in December 2009, giving the lead to EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America will drive the first major wave of LTE rollouts in 2010 through 2012
• The second wave will kick off in 2012-2013 when the Chinese operators start their rollouts along with the majority of Western European mobile operators
• LTE subscribers could exceed 153 million by 2014, with most of them split between Asia Pacific and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

REPORT SYNOPSIS  Infonetics’ biannual LTE report provides market size, forecasts through 2014, and in-depth analysis for LTE subscribers, E-UTRAN macrocells (eNBs) split by FDD and TDD (frequency-division duplexing and time-division duplexing), and EPC infrastructure, including the mobility management entity (MME) and access gateways.The report tracks products made by Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Datang Mobile, DT Mobile, Ericsson/Nortel, Fujitsu, GENBAND, Hitachi, Huawei, ip.access, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Potiveo, Samsung, TD Tech, Ubiquisys, ZTE, and others.The LTE report includes data and analysis from relevant service provider surveys conducted by Infonetics, a by-country LTE Service Provider and Vendor Matrix with expected LTE launch timeframes, LTE customer wins and vendor announcements, and a Fundamental Telecom and Datacom Market Drivers report with analysis of overall market conditions for service providers, enterprises, subscribers, and the global economy.