Verizon is adding 16 more 4G towns and cities to its network this week as it barrels towards its goal of completing its Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployment by the middle of next year.

Verizon says that it is firing up LTE in 16 new locations in Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska and New Mexico on Thursday. Verizon promises average downloads of 12 Mbit/s to 15 Mbit/s on the new network, although the throughput can be higher than that range in certain markets. (See Top Five 4G LTE Cities in the US and The Best 3G & 4G Cities in America.)

The network is coming to these markets and some surrounding areas on Dec. 20:

Why this matters
Verizon is way ahead of its U.S. rivals in deploying LTE, with 470 markets going live with the additions this week. LTE is a key selling point for Verizon as it plans to complete its initial rollout by the middle of next year.

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— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Light Reading Mobile