Well for once, AT&T is doing something that isn’t pissing America off. It turns out that AT&T’s roll out of 4G LTE coverage across the country is going better than anyone, including the carrier, had anticipated. The goal to cover 150 million people in over 100 markets was projected by AT&T to be completed by the end of 2012. As of today, November 16th, AT&T successfully reached that goal about a month and a half ahead of schedule.
The rollout today and yesterday to markets such as Portland, Pensacola, and Minneapolis puts the list of markets blanketed with LTE at exactly 103 markets. In August, AT&T’s LTE covered only 53 markets. At the beginning of 2012, it covered just 26 markets. This means the number of markets AT&T LTE does cover has quadrupled over the course of 2012 and coverage overall (meaning the number of people) has more than doubled.
The job still is far from finished, however. Verizon plans to cover over 260 million people by the end of this year, which is a feat AT&T won’t be able to accomplish until the end of 2013. The carrier projects the rollout won’t be finished until the end of 2014. Factoring in all types of 4G technology such as LTE and HSPA+ and AT&T covers over 285 million people already.
As a token of appreciation for AT&T’s speedy rollout, the carrier received the 2012 North American Mobile Network Strategy Award from telecommunications analyst firm Frost and Sullivan for the second year in a row.