Wireless Intelligence has compiled its annual ranking of global carriers by number of mobile connections, and not much has changed from last year’s list. China Mobile(s chl) still dominates the list with nearly 700 million subscribers, and the composition of the remaining 19 is roughly the same, according to the analysis arm of the GSM Association. If there is an underlying trend visible, though, it’s that Asian operators are gradually displacing normally dominant Western operators.

Vodafone(s vod) and Latin America’s America Móvil (s amx) kept second and third rankings, but India’s Bharti Airtel replaced Telefónica(s tef) at No. 4, and it’s within spitting distanced of breaking into the top 3. Asian operators China Unicom(s chu), China Telecom(s cha), Indonesia’s Telkomsel and India’s Idea Cellular all rose in the rankings. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless(s vz), AT&T(s t), T-Mobile-owner Deutsche Telekom, and Russia’s VimpelCom(s vip) and Sistema groups all fell in…