GSA report finds a sharp drop in the uptake of and investment in LTE since 2022 – 375 operators worldwide are investing in LTE Advanced but 633 are active in 5G
A new report from the GSA finds that the rate of uptake and investment in LTE by operators has decreased significantly, particularly since 2022. Between 2022 and May 2025, GSA tracked only 18 LTE launches. In comparison, there were 93 launches between 2018 and 2021. The peak was 2015, when there were 122 launches globally.
GSA also found that 375 operators are investing in Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services in 156 countries and territories, including 320 operators that have launched or are currently deploying VoLTE in 138 countries and territories.
Also, 375 operators are investing in LTE-Advanced — in the form of tests, trials, deployments or commercial service provision — in 156 countries and territories.
In contrast, GSA identified 633 operators in 188 countries and territories that have launched, are deploying, have acquired spectrum licences to enable deployment, have demonstrated, are testing or trialling, or have been licensed to conduct field trials of 5G networks.
Meanwhile, fixed wireless access broadband based on LTE is available to most countries worldwide, from 440 operators in 172 countries and territories.
Not going any time soon
Despite the rise of 5G at LTE’s expense, LTE has more than 6.6 billion subscriptions, connecting nearly two-thirds of mobile users worldwide. It is specified by 3GPP as a single global standard for paired and unpaired spectrum users. Almost all the standard is the same for frequency-division duplex and time-division duplex.
LTE has evolved through various 3GPP technology releases, covering the introduction of LTE-Advanced and then LTE-Advanced Pro, which improved the capabilities of LTE networks. From 3GPP Release 15 onwards, 3GPP has been defining 5G networks, starting with non-standalone 5G systems that integrate with existing LTE networks and moving onto standalone 5G systems with substantially different network configurations.
