According to research firm Ovum Ltd., there were nearly half a billion connections worldwide at the end of 2014.
The study found that North America made up 33%, or 164 million, of the total 498 million LTE connections worldwide. While North America was the first mover on LTE, it lost its top slot to Asia-Pacific region - 64 against 152 million. In 2014, global subscriber base of LTE in Western Europe grew by 141%, up to 50 million users.
According to Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), by the end of 2015 there will be 450 commercially launched LTE networks worldwide.