According to a recent In-Stat report, while LTE is destined to become the dominant wireless airlink, several formidable challenges will make its widespread adoption go slower than many expect. 

Report sites delay in spectrum  allocation as one of the factor. However, despite this difficult path, In-Stat forecasts that the number of LTE subscribers will approach 115 million by 2014.

Although the vast majority of LTE subscribers will be FDD-LTE, TD-LTE will have a CAGR through 2014 of almost twice that of FDD-LTE.

"US operator LTE CAPEX spending will drive wireless leadership from Asia and Europe to North America. From 2009 to 2014, more than one quarter of global LTE CAPEX spending will occur in the US.  As a result, the US will have more LTE subscribers than all of the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2014, even though it will have less than half the POPs," says Chris Kissel, Industry Analyst for In-Stat. 

Despite the potential for LTE services in China and India, Japan is very likely to have the most LTE subscribers in Asia/Pacific by the end of 2014, report adds.