With a series of launches today and yesterday, AT&T’s LTE now covers 150 million people in over 100 markets — something that was originally projected for the end of 2012. LTE was rolled out today in Portland, Pensacola, and several other markets; yesterday, it was turned on in Minneapolis-Saint Paul as well. Seattle, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and others were launched in September, shortly before the iPhone 5’s release. Today, AT&T said it was in 103 markets, compared to 53 in August and a mere 26 at the beginning of 2012, when it covered 76 million Americans.
AT&T LTE now live in over 100 markets ahead of schedule
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Since the network first launched last August, AT&T has made clear its intention to catch Verizon, which recently said it would cover 260 million people by the end of the year. AT&T doesn’t plan to reach that point until late 2013, and its rollout won’t be completed until the end of 2014, a year after Verizon is finished. Overall, though, both these two companies and second-tier carriers like Sprint have made it clear that LTE for almost everyone is definitely on its way.
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