T-Mobile plans to upgrade the rest of its existing 2G/EDGE markets to 4G LTE by next year, the company announced on Thursday.
Just less than one year after introducing LTE to its network, T-Mobile said it now reaches 210 million people in 273 metro areas nationwide and is planning a larger rollout. The move would give customers with a LTE-capable smartphone or tablet access to faster Internet speeds when outside major cities.
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T-Mobile plans to complete 50% of the initiative and finish it by mid-2015. This is a quick turnaround for the company, which is also working to deploy LTE in the 700 MHz A-Block spectrum. T-Mobile acquired the spectrum from Verizon earlier this year.
"Right now, T-Mobile covers 96% of Americans, and over the past year, we've completely shattered records with the fastest 4G LTE deployment the U.S. wireless industry has ever seen," said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile, in a press release. "Our competitors want you to believe our network doesn't measure up. But that just isn't true. And American consumers are going to see right through the spin and half-truths when given the facts."
T-Mobile said it is on track to reach 230 million people in the U.S. by mid-2014 and 250 by the end of the year.