Kirkland-based Clearwire has been working hard to spread the gospel of WiMax, the high-speed wireless technology that can blanket entire cities with broadband access. But a new report released today by the WiMax Forum indicates that North America falls behind some of the other regions when it comes to actual deployments.

The report shows that North America currently has 51 WiMax deployments covering about 47 million people. That compares to 153 deployments covering 115 million people in Europe and 142 deployments covering 108 million people in Africa and Middle East.

Nonetheless, Clearwire is pushing ahead to bring its WiMax technology to more Americans. The company said that it plans to have 120 million people covered in the U.S. by the end of this year as it brings on networks in New York, Houston and San Francisco.

“The expansion of our footprint will help meet the pent up demand for true mobile broadband in the U.S. and allow us to continue to serve as a global resource for best practices in 4G network development around the world," said Ali Tabassi, senior vice president of global ecosystem and standards for Clearwire Corporation and a WiMAX Forum Board member.

Competing technologies to WiMax are on the horizon, namely long term evolution or LTE. Earlier this month, we reported on the comments of an Alcatel Lucent executive who said they are putting their resources on LTE. Those comments prompted an active discussion on TechFlash.

The WiMax Forum also noted that WiMax networks now cover more than 620 million people in 147 countries, with that number expected to top one billion by 2011. That's about when LTE is expected to reach commercialization, the WiMax Forum said.