Just a wild speculation on my part but could the U.S. lead with next generation wireless network deployment after having been a bit slow to deply 3G in the past?
With Sprint launching their next generation WiMAX network in 2008 I wonder if this will push Verizon or AT&T to push LTE out the door as soon as possible? On the other hand the Austrians in the past have also been quite quick to introduce new wireless technologies and opening the network for customers. These days 20% of broadband customers in the country use one of the four HSDPA networks. If the trend continues the country could go very quickly to LTE as it would offer lots of additional capacity.
Comments, as always, are welcome!
Wimax is actually up and running in Korea since mid 2006 under the name WiBRO.
If NTT DoCoMo is not the first with LTE I will be very surprised.
In Europe I would assume that one of the Scandinavian countries will be the first.
I would not be surprised if Verzon and Sprint will be out around the same time. Sprint seems to have run into some problems.