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Verizon Wireless currently accounts for a huge 60% of the world's LTE subscribers, but it won't hold onto that crown for long, with Asia-Pacific set to be the main growth engine over the coming five years.

These are the conclusions of a new study by TeleGeography, which says the US operators "have been trailblazers of the nascent LTE market", especially when compared to their slow 3G uptake - in 2004, they accounted for just 1% of total global 3G connections. That situation was partly because the US split between two 3G standards, while at the 4G stage - now that Sprint has converted from WiMAX - the country will be united around LTE (though roaming among all its various bands may be more problematic).

The analysts do not think the US will keep its LTE lead for very long. Report author John Dinsdale said in a statement: "While the US has taken an early lead, the bulk of the growth of the next five years will come in Asia, which we project will account for almost half of LTE subscribers in 2016. Countries such as China, Japan and South Korea will lead the way, and are forecast to be among the top five markets globally in terms of subscribers."

However, the immaturity of the LTE market, and the number of operators yet to make firm plans, is seen in the wide variation between analyst predictions. Juniper Research's Nitin Bhas, for instance, thinks North America and western Europe will be the biggest regions for LTE subscribers in 2016, rather than Asia, despite the potential of huge markets like China. Both firms have similar forecasts for the numbers of LTE users in five years' time - more than 400m - even if they disagree about how these will be distributed.

According to TeleGeography, there were 39 LTE networks in operation as of mid-November, and 170 operators are running trials or have expressed serious interest. Another study, by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), said recently that 248 operators have so far committed to LTE, including 185 network commitments and 63 pre-commitment trials. The body expects 103 LTE networks to have gone commercial by the end of next year.

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