The prospects of 4G networks coming late this year and early next year is enough to make a mobile geek smile. The WiMax reality will quickly wipe that smile away with the service in the U.S. available in very limited areas.

Research firm BWA announced today that there were about 400,000 WiMax subscribers and 50 million new 3G customers added in Q1 2009 according to the last quarterly report issued by Maravedis. WiMax is more available overseas than in America at this point and most U.S. mobile providers are betting on LTE for 4G service.

The report also claims that 37% of mobile operators consider LTE their best option for 4G service and that 15% of providers believe that LTE will give them added flexibility. 28% of providers surveyed say that technological delays are the main challenge to adopting LTE.

[via 4GCounts]