Spending on 2G, 3G and 4G telecom infrastructure market to drop to $2 billion in Japan in 2019, said Infonetics Research.

Telecom operators are planning to invest in 3.5 GHz networks in Japan.

Infonetics/IHS expects the 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE mobile infrastructure market in Japan to fall to $2 billion in 2019, before 5G ramps up.

The Japanese government freed up the 3.5GHz band, which will shift the action from FDD to TDD LTE.

Only KDDI and NTT DOCOMO, among Japan’s mobile operators have increased LTE spending in 2014, while Softbank Mobile slashed its total mobile spend by a quarter.

Nokia Networks due to its LTE prowess is at the top of the Japanese radio market.

Japan had 145,053,600 mobile subscribers in 2014, growing by 6 percent over 2013.