LTE is set to start generating a lot of revenue, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Juniper expects worldwide service revenues generated by LTE mobile networks to reach $100 billion by 2014. The firm concludes that these revenues will be driven by laptops, smartphones and other devices.
The high revenues are projected in spite of uncertainty about data pricing going forward. A Juniper survey found that 90 percent of respondents believe that today's pricing models will have to change but few had any suggestions for strategies going forward.
"In the new report, our business modeling evaluated three scenarios. The most optimistic view revealed scope for higher revenues and ARPU if network operators adopt premium pricing strategies for enterprise users," wrote Howard Wilcox, analyst for Juniper.
The report warns that while there continue to be high profile LTE announcements by network operators, some regions will not see substantial numbers of users benefiting from these high speed services for up to three years, citing Western Europe as just such an example.
Additionally, the report found that high-traffic enterprise subscribers using Web, email and video services will be the early adopters of LTE and are the key segment to be targeted, noting that revenues from consumer users will remain under half of total revenues until at least 2015.