AT&T, Verizon 4G Wireless Technology to Dominate, Dwarfing Sprint's WiMax

Long-term evolution, the high-speed mobile Internet standard used by AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the US, will become the dominant fourth-generation network technology worldwide by 2012, a research firm predicted.

Next year, there will be more than twice as many customers for LTE as for WiMax, an alternative 4G technology used by Sprint Nextel, researcher IHS ISuppli said. In 2014, there will be 303.1 million LTE users worldwide, almost ten times as many customers as WiMax, IHS ISuppli said. Sprint has bet billions on the WiMax standard, funneling cash into its partner Clearwire to build out the first, nationwide 4G network. The companies have said they chose WiMax because of the technology’s early lead on LTE, a standard also endorsed by several Asian and European carriers.