The number of subscribers to long-term evolution (LTE) services has topped 100 million in 70 countries around the world.

Mobile operator data analyst “Wireless Intelligence” said that 90 percent of the global LTE subscribers are in five countries, such as South Korea, the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia.

Wireless Intelligence predicts that some 900 million people will subscribe to LTE services by 2017 and the number will exceed one billion in the first half of 2018.

As the fourth-generation telecommunication service, the “long-term evolution” network was first commercialized in December 2009.