U.S. to Lead in Crappy 3G by 2011

The 3G wireless network infrastructure here in the United States may be subpar, but it keeps attracting new users. Indeed, research outfit TeleGeography reports that the number of 3G phone users in the U.S. will overtake that of Japan by 2011.

That’s no small feat considering that Japan, which has had commercial 3G since 2001, boasts the largest 3G subscriber base in the world. Japan had nearly 92 million 3G users at the end of March 2009. That’s 50 percent more than the United States. But that will change over the next five years as the Japanese 3G market reaches saturation and the surge in demand for 3G in the states, whose population is well over twice Japan’s, increases.

So, by 2011, the U.S. will have supplanted Japan. But that triumph will be short-lived. TeleGeography reports that the U.S. will be overtaken by China within three years. Let’s hope our 3G networks will be improved enough to deliver a decent experience by then.