With commercial LTE launches by all three major incumbents, Saudi Arabia is not only leading the LTE adoption within the Middle East, but it is also pioneering TD-LTE adoption globally by becoming the first country to commercially offer TD-LTE user devices.

Driven by early deployments, attractive free trial packages such as those offered by STC Saudi Arabia, bundled 3G/LTE pricing models, and the increasing demand for high-speed mobile broadband access in rural locations, Saudi Arabia will lead LTE subscriptions throughout the region with over 70,000 subscriptions by Q4\'2011 and over 0.39 Million by Q4\'2012, representing a YoY (Year-over-Year) growth of 457 percent. By 2015, Saudi Arabia is expected to account for over 5.44 Million subscriptions representing a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 196.91 percent, that is much higher that the worldwide CAGR of LTE adoption at 180 percent with a total of 410 Million subscriptions.

The UAE is also likely to follow suit, with commercial LTE devices for the Etisalat expected to be launched in December 2011, following a pre-commercial network release in September. Du is also expected to commercial launch its LTE network in due course, leading UAE\'s LTE subscriptions to hit 40,000 by Q1\'2012. From a spectrum perspective, although the 2.3 GHz TDD spectrum is likely to retain the highest market share, driven by Saudi network deployments. Re-farming of the sub-1 GHz spectrum bands is also expected by 2013, which will make the 1800 MHz the most sought after band.