The number of VoLTE subscriptions will reach 59.6 million in 2014 and more than 1.2 billion in 2019, said ABI Research.

LTE-related cellular subscriptions will grow at a CAGR of 36.6 percent between 2014 and 2019, to exceed 2 billion. Nearly 56 percent of LTE-related cellular subscriptions will be using VoLTE services by the end of 2019.

LTE-related cellular subscriptions surpassed 230.9 million last year, 3.3 percent of mobile subs.

“For VoLTE to be a success, there needs to be adoption of the technology by handset vendors and not just the operators. It is anticipated that Apple will incorporate VoLTE into iPhone 6,” said Marina Lu, research analyst at ABI Research.

Growth of LTE-enabled handsets shipments was 222 percent to 335.4 million units in 2013.

In 2014, LTE-enabled media tablets are expected to ship 12.8 million units annually along with 10.6 million USB dongles.

 

LTE network will cover around 64 percent of the world’s population by 2019.

In Asia-Pacific, South Korean operators have used LTE to boost profit margins to 9.4 percent.

In the United Kingdom, Everything Everywhere has gained four times as many LTE subscribers as the nearest competitor.

Meanwhile, Dell’Oro Group said that Carrier IP Telephony market revenue grew 20 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Market expansion was primarily driven by technologies delivering VoLTE capability to carrier networks.

AT&T, NTT Docomo and Hong Kong Telecom recently announced early commercial availability of VoLTE, suggesting that technical and integration risks can be overcome.

Chris DePuy, vice president of Carrier IP Telephony research, Dell’Oro Group, said: “Multiple equipment vendors participated in each network roll out, signaling the importance that collaboration will play in the success of these new ventures.”

The overall Carrier IP Telephony market, which includes devices used to serve both circuit switched subscribers, Voice over IP (VoIP) and VoLTE subscribers, topped $1.7 billion in the first quarter 2014.

Baburajan K