2017
VoLTE connections to grow to 3.33 bln in 2021
The number of VoLTE connections will grow to 3.33 billion by 2021 from 324 million at present, according to a research by Ovum. By 2021, the technology will penetrate 53 percent of total mobile subscriptions worldwide.
The main reason behind this growth will be the need for operators to reduce costs, moving services from voice to mobile broadband. In the near term, the rapidly-increasing availability of standardised VoLTE devices will drive growth and successful VoLTE service launches by companies such as EE are encouraging other mobile operators to commit and launch their own services, researchers said.
Looking outside the UK, while North America has the majority of VoLTE connections today, the Oceania, Eastern & Southern Asia region will overtake it by the end of 2016. This trend will continue to dominate until 2021.
China will have the highest number of VoLTE connections by the end of 2021 (1.08 billion), followed by the United States (379 million) and Japan (147 million). VoLTE will also make up the vast majority of total subscriptions in certain advanced markets, with countries such as South Korea (99.4 percent), Japan (96.7 percent) and Norway (94.1 percent) predicted to have the highest penetration rates. North America and the more developed countries within Asia and Western Europe will see close to or all LTE subscriptions being VoLTE enabled by 2021, driving uptake over the period at a CAGR rate of 59 percent.
