AT&T added more markets to its LTE deployment Wednesday, bringing it close to 400 markets and making the year-end target of 420 look easily within its grasp.
The markets AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) had added today are:
Vidalia, Ga.
Waycross, Ga.
Murray, Ky.
Alexandria, La.
Rolla, Mo.
Columbus, Miss.
Yazoo City, Miss.
Albemarle, N.C.
Greenville, N.C.
Morehead City, N.C.
Sandusky, Ohio
Morristown, Tenn.
Abilene, Texas
Logan, Utah
"Our new total LTE market count is 397, covering 225 million people," a spokesman for AT&T tells us.
Here's how all the operators now stack up for 4G LTE:
Operator | 4G technology | Number of markets | Average download speeds |
AT&T | LTE (Also markets HSPA+ as "4G") | 397 | Average of 18.6 Mbit/s downloads |
Cricket (Leap Wireless) | LTE | 11 | 3-to-15 times faster than Leap's 3G |
C-Spire | LTE | 40 markets up; 3 more coming soon | Data speeds up to 10 times faster |
MetroPCS | LTE | 30 markets | 2 Mbit/s-15 Mbit/s (Depending on market) |
Sprint | LTE & WiMax | 151 LTE; 71 WiMax | Average of 10.3 Mbit/s download |
T-Mobile | LTE (Also markets HSPA+ as "4G") | 116 markets | Average of 25 Mbit/s downloads (on unloaded network) |
U.S. Cellular | LTE | 30+ markets | Up to 10 times faster than 3G |
Verizon Wireless | LTE | 500 markets | 14.3 Mbit/s average download |
Sources: Light Reading, carrier data, OpenSignal, RootMetrics |
Why this matters
At this pace, AT&T should easily beat its stated target of 420 markets covered with 4G LTE by the end of 2013. The number to watch, however, might instead be the number of potential customers covered. Even as AT&T has added more than 20 new small markets in August and early September, its estimate of people covered hasn't budged from 225 million.
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— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
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