Nearly Half of US Consumers Think They Don't Need LTE

About 47 percent of consumers polled by Piper Jaffray say they "don't need 4G Long Term Evolution," and another 26 percent think all 4G network technologies are the same. 

About 15 percent of those polled said that 4G LTE is the best network technology, the survey by Pipe Jaffray suggests. 

The findings should not be surprising. One could have gotten similar results about third generation services for quite a long time in markets such as Western Europe, or the United States, as well.

That is hardly unusual. Even though China reached a milestone in February 2012 when the number of mobile phone users in the country surpassed one billion, representing penetration of 74 percent, the 3G penetration rate is still low at 14 percent, for example, China Daily reported.

The total number of 3G subscribers in India is just about 2% of the total number of cellphone users. India has 893.8 million cellphone users according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, (TRAI).

A 2006 study of 3G adoption in Western Europe, at a time when nearly 90 percent of 3G license holders in six Western European markets had launched 3G services three years prior,  3G penetration rates were still generally low, ranging from one percent to 12 percent, with a median of about 3.5 percent adoption. 

The big problem was "lack of 3G content and applications." That should be qualitatively different with 4G, as it is the Internet that generally will supply content and applications. But will it be any different in the early going?



Piper Jaffray's survey also found that consumers are ambivalent about which U.S. carrier has the best 4G LTE network. Among those polled, 51 percent indicated they don't know who has the best 4G network, or that all 4G networks are the same. 

That finding should not be surprising, either. Few consumers likely have a good grasp of the differences, or have had a chance to test and use most of the services for a length of time.