Clearwire, the leading 4G WiMAX provider in the U.S., is planning to launch in 25 markets, with service to more than 30 million people, by the end of this year. Comcast and Time-Warner Cable, the country's two largest cable companies, are planning to launch their Clearwire-Sprint-backed WiMAX service in a number of large U.S. markets, as well. One can expect that this pace will only accelerate in 2010, as the kinks are worked out of the system, the marketing machines crank up, and demand increases.
LTE service, on the other hand, is not expected to begin until mid-2010, at the earliest, with large-scale rollouts not expected until 2011 or even 2012.
So, my question is this, if customer acquisition occurs at anywhere near the pace of 3G service, how many customers will be left for the LTE providers when they're ready? Will LTE be too late to the mobile broadband party?
