SEOUL, KOREA – In 2012, LTE (long-term evolution) traffic soared tenfold in a year while the number of LTE subscribers jumped eightfold. LTE traffic, which languished at a mere 13.7% of 3G traffic in January of last year, finished 37% ahead of 3G traffic in December, 2012. The number of LTE subscribers rapidly has grown and is forecast to continue on a sharp upward trajectory this year.
According to Korea Communications Commission (KCC)’s survey on wireless data traffic, released on Tuesday, LTE traffic shot up to 27,687 TB in December from 2,838 TB in January of last year. As of the end of December, the number of LTE subscribers stood at 15.89 million, an 8.1-fold increase from 1.96 million at the end of January, 2012.
Although the number of LTE subscribers is much lower that of 3G users, its traffic has overtaken 3G traffics due to its overwhelming lead in traffic per subscriber. At of the end of 2012, LTE traffic per subscriber was 1,836 MB, 55.6% higher than 3G’s 1,180 MB.
Sean Chung (hbpark@etnews.com)
**Article provided by etnews [Korea IT News]
[Reference] : http://english.etnews.com/electronics/2715655_1303.html
