BroadForward announced that Voiceworks [MVNO, Netherlands] has "extended the use of the BFX Interface Gateway to support integration with KPN’s 4G network. Like for Voiceworks and hundreds of other operators and MVNO’s worldwide, it used to be impossible to connect to 4G/LTE networks with existing, older generation HLR’s (pre 3GPP release 8). This limitation is now removed with the latest

Back in July Verizon announced that it will ".. expand its existing Network Optimization to include unlimited data customers who use 4G LTE devices .. when an unlimited data customer meets specific criteria and hops onto a cell site that is experiencing high demand. This is only a temporary reduction, not a billing cycle throttle. Once that customer leaves the cell site under stress, their

Yet again analysts are expecting mobile access technology to be an alternative to residential broadband access and replace cable or DSL.

Already 4 years ago, 8.5% of UK households said they are using mobile service at home, as their only access service (here). Other expected it to fail - see "Analysys Mason: Mobile Broadband will Fail as an Alternative to Fixed Broadband" - here) but shortly

A new report by Phil Kendall [pictured], Executive Director, Wireless Operator Strategies, Strategy Analytics finds that:

Global mobile service revenue growth will accelerate in 2014, though after passing the $1 trillion mark in 2015, will struggle to grow any further 
Europe remains a drag on global mobile service revenue growth, with 2014 revenue forecast at 17% below its 2008 peak. The jump

Nokia announced a number of new features, including 3rd party application extending its Liquid Applications:




Video Orchestration provides a new multimedia experience at special events, including race tracks, football stadiums, and fairs. This enables new video services, for example, streaming a live feed from inside a racing car, in real time, to fans at the trackside.


Real-time Analytics

A new report by Citrix (Bytemobile) finds that:


Mobile network traffic volume associated with video has increased worldwide over 2013 and now represents 52% of worldwide mobile network traffic volume, as compared to 45% in Q2 2013 








On a daily basis, social networking is the most popular mobile application, with 40% of mobile subscribers engaged, followed closely by news & information

According to a new report by GSA ",,confirms that at least 16 mobile network operators, working together with LTE systems providers and broadcast content owners, are currently deploying or trialling LTE Broadcast technology in Australia, China, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, UAE, UK and the USA".




Related post: "Vodafone LTE Status:

A new report by Marina Lu [pictured], research analyst, ABI Research finds that "In 1Q 2014, the worldwide mobile service revenue increased 0.58% year-on-year (YoY) to US$264 billion .. the aggregate service revenue for 2014 will grow 2.9% YoY to US$1.01 trillion, mainly driven by the robust growth of the mobile Internet market. 




Proliferating mobile data subscriptions and enhanced network

A new report by Shanthi Ravindran [pictured], Senior Analyst, Gorkem Yigit, Research Analyst and Glen Ragoonanan, Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason finds that "The worldwide network management systems (NMS) market is forecast to grow from USD4.6 billion in revenue in 2013 to USD5.6 billion in 2018, at a 3.9% CAGR, starting to recover from the 4% decline in 2012 and 2% growth in 2013". 

These

GSA reports that "318 operators have commercially launched LTE networks and service in 111 countries .. Israel [by Orange Israel - see "LTE Services Enabled in Israel - See my Speedtest Results" - here], Madagascar and the Northern Mariana Islands are amongst the latest nations to access commercial LTE mobile broadband service for the first time. 51 LTE networks have launched so far in 2014. The

3 years after Verizon established its optimization policy to reduce cell congestion, [see "Verizon Explains its "Network Optimization" Policy" - here] it is now expanded to LTE.

Kellex reports to DroidLife that "On October 1, Verizon will expand its existing Network Optimization policy to include unlimited data customers who use 4G LTE devices and “have fulfilled their minimum contract term.”

Earlier this week, Israel's Ministry of Communications allowed all existing MNOs to enable 4G/LTE services (here, Hebrew). 



The MNOs cannot charge subscribers for using LTE, nor they can't discriminate MVNOs or roamers using their networks.  



Partner Israel (using the Orange brand) announced that "As of  July 15, 2014, the Company will enable its customers that own handsets which support

Zhilabs and Stoke have "..signed an agreement to bring to market a joint RAN analytics solution that enables mobile broadband operators to pinpoint trouble spots in 3G/LTE networks with greater speed and accuracy and take more rapid corrective action.


.. The joint solution leverages the inherent data collection capabilities of the Stoke security gateway rather than network probes, which are

A new report by Marina Lu [pictured], research analyst, and Jake Saunders, VP and practice director of core forecasting, ABI Research finds that "By the end of 2013, global LTE-related cellular subscriptions surpassed 230.9 million, 3.3% of mobile subs, and will continue to grow at a CAGR of 36.6% between 2014 and 2019, to exceed 2 billion".

In early 2013 ABI forecasted 785M LTE subscribers by

Some statements and slides from a recent Vodafone webinar on LTE (here):







Carrier aggregation: Initial deployments in Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal to date; Speeds up to 300Mbps achieved







VoLTE: We will begin enabling VoLTE in Europe from H1 2014 and deployed in many markets in next 12 months
 
eMBMS - enabling the broadcast of video and content over 4G - 1st live eMBMS

 Amdocs released new "research into mobile traffic, showing an almost complete shift from voice to data. based on the analysis of more than 4 million voice and data connections from more than 100,000 mobile devices at some of the busiest network locations around the world in the past twelve months. 




Key findings include:

2013 was the busiest year to date for mobile networks. Traffic doubled

Some slides from the recent China Mobile 2013 Annual results (here).

Highlights:


>500,000 LTE base stations by the end of 2014
LTE Tariff build around data, with multi-device shared service plans
Voice and SMS/MMS revenues decline (-3.4%, -6.5% respectively) in 2013 to OTT services (while minutes of use are up by 3%)
767.2M subscribers, 191.6M in 3G
Mobile data traffic reached 526.8B MB

Alcatel-Lucent announced that "Verizon Wireless is to deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced data management platform throughout its network, helping to support the carrier’s LTE expansion. The Alcatel-Lucent Subscriber Data Manager (SDM), part of the company’s IMS Subsystem portfolio of technologies designed to enable rich multimedia applications, will help support the expansion of Verizon’s LTE

 
A new report by Marina Lu [pictured], research associate, ABI Research finds that "Worldwide LTE-related subscriptions reached 229.7 million in 2013, and will continually grow at a CAGR of 43.6% between 2013 and 2019, to exceed 2 billion. .. Among the LTE subscription growth, Asia-Pacific contributes the most with a 49% market share. The second greatest contributor is North America with an 18%

Alepo Technologies announced that "Tishknet, a leading 4G service provider in the Middle-East, is upgrading its WiMAX network to LTE [here] in order to provide faster and more modern services to a rapidly expanding customer base. As part of its migration, Tishknet will be deploying Alepo’s Service Enabler 9 Suite including its CRM, OCS and PCRF for End-to-end Convergent Service Management.