According to Gizmodo, FCC documents were leaked regarding the AT&T; T-Mobile merger, and details AT&T's plans for their 4G LTE rollout. These documents indicate that AT&T plans to cover 70 million Americans by the end of this year, 170 million by the end of next, 250 million by the end of 2013. This will be made possible by upgrading 44,000 nodes to LTE with 8,000 this year, 16,000 next year and 20,000 in 2013. They've also mentioned the plan to cover 97 percent of Americans if the T-Mobile merger goes through, but it could take them till 2018 to convert all of their hardware to hit their coverage goal.
This may sound impressive, but AT&T is already at a significant disadvantage in the 4G race with Verizon already offering 4G LTE in 100+ markets and Sprint's 4G WiMAX covering 70+ markets. In fact, Verizon plans to have over 175 markets 4G enabled by the end of the year, and cover their entire 3G network with 4G by 2013. This means that by the AT&T covers 70 million pops with LTE, Verizon will already be offering the service to over 200 million users.
Related Links:
- Verizon VZ4G LTE Markets
- CLEAR/Sprint 4G WiMAX Markets
- Check Coverage With 3Gstore's 3G/4G Coverage Map
