The number of LTE connections has reached 373 million in September 2014, said telecom industry body 4G Americas.

North America is leading the global LTE 4G market with 39 percent share. LTE connections in North America increased to 145 million subscriptions. LTE represents 36 percent of 398 million total mobile subscriptions in North America.

Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas, said: “More than 65 million LTE connections added in the past twelve months.”

HSPA and HSPA+ now hold a 27 percent market share. The combined market share for LTE and HSPA mobile broadband in the region was 63 percent.

The number of commercial LTE networks deployed in U.S. and Canada reached 66.

In Latin America, the combined LTE and HSPA mobile broadband market share rose to 35 percent with 251 million connections of the total 717 million mobile connections. Latin America gained 77 million new HSPA and HSPA+ connections year-over-year.

LTE represents 18 percent of all HSPA and LTE subscriptions worldwide as of September 2014 against 10 percent a year ago.

Kristin Paulin, senior analyst at Ovum, said: “LTE accounts for 5 percent of all mobile subscriptions worldwide as of September 2014 after having added 167 million new LTE subscriptions year-to-date.”

LTE connections are forecast to reach 2.3 billion by 2019. There are 31 LTE-Advanced commercial networks (Dec 4, 2014) in 22 countries.

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