T-Mobile US is getting ready to upgrade its 4G LTE with wider channels for faster data speeds across the majority of the top 25 markets by the end of 2013.

The operator started its 4G LTE services in July with 2x5MHz channels in New York City and many other markets. At the unveiling of 116 live markets in New York City earlier this month, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray promised average speeds of between 10 Mbit/s and 20 Mbit/s on the new networks. (See T-Mobile: Summertime & the LTE is Speedy.) Now the operator is preparing to get more speed and capacity as it adds subscribers to its new service by broadening its radio channels. The operator was testing a 2x10MHz site on 11th Avenue in New York City last week.

"Let’s see the others run this fast," T-Mobile CEO John Legere boasted on Twitter. He posted a speed test photo topping 60 Mbit/s on downloads and in excess of 18 Mbit/s on the uplink.

A T-Mobile spokesperson provided Light Reading Mobile further details on the test on Tuesday evening. "For testing purposes... we have been briefly deploying and testing 10+10 MHz of LTE in a few areas of the city," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

During the tests, the operator re-purposed some of the spectrum normally used for 3G. "In these areas during brief testing windows we have taken HSPA+ 42 to HSPA+ 21 -- and then restored HSPA+ 42 after the tests."

T-Mobile plans to update to 2x10 MHz channels on LTE in New York by the end of this year, running the 4G update in addition to its existing HSPA+ 42 network. "Nationwide, we plan to deploy 10+10 MHz of LTE in 90 percent of the top 25 markets by the end of the year," the spokesperson notes.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile