A new report from Juniper Research (News - Alert) predicts that the LTE mobile broadband market will generate more than $70 billion in revenues for mobile operators within the next five years.

Capable of delivering downstream speeds of at least 100Mbit/s; upstream speeds of 50 Mbit/s; and RAN (Radio Access Network) round-trip times of less than 10 milliseconds, LTE (News - Alert) is a next-generation wireless broadband standard that will be introduced in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 8.

Basically it is an enhancement, or set of enhancements, to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard which will enable mobile devices to work more like mobile computing devices, as opposed to just communications devices. Currently more than 60 operators, vendors and research institutes are participating in the joint LTE radio access standardization effort. Although it is yet to be ratified as a standard, LTE will be primarily oriented around upgrading UMTS to 4G mobile communications technology and an all-IP flat architecture system.

According to Juniper’s LTE Mobile Broadband report, LTE will create a “new connected era for devices such as portable games consoles and digital cameras.” As such, it will “bridge the gap between the mobile and consumer electronics worlds.”

 

But there are many challenges ahead – not the least of which is how mobile operators will make profits from this new technology while at the same time keeping services reasonably priced.

 

According to the report, LTE’s main markets will be the developed nations of North America, Western Europe, the Far East and China, which together will account for 90 percent of the market by 2014.

The report also finds that LTE will drive further adoption of mobile commerce and payments. What’s more it will contribute significantly to the growth of the “mobile web” and will also drive further acceptance of mobile e-commerce among consumers.

The report finds that the current recession will not have much of an impact on LTE’s long-term prospects.

 

The report includes a comprehensive six-year forecasting suite of critical figures, data and analysis on enterprise and consumer subscriber take-up, devices, network access via dongles, cards and embedded capability, chipset shipments, ARPUs and service revenues. It also evaluates the key mobile operators and vendors pioneering in this developing market.

Whitepapers and further details of the study, “LTE Mobile Broadband Strategies: Consumer & Enterprise Markets; Devices & Chipsets 2009-2014,” can be downloaded at www.juniperresearch.com.