Sprint’s LTE rollout goes urban with launches in Boston, Austin

After spending the last six months boosting its small-town cred, Sprint is focusing more 4G attention on larger markets. On Monday it took its LTE network live in Boston and Austin, joining Chicago and Indianapolis, which Sprint turned on right before the Christmas holidays.

When Sprint first launched LTE this summer, it started with six large cities, but it quickly shifted its focus to smaller cities, towns and suburbs, getting 4G markets online as soon its Network Vision upgrade was complete. Sprint’s LTE network is now live in 58 cities, but most of them are small markets.

Sprint may be returning to the urban zones, but it isn’t abandoning the places in between. In addition to Boston and Austin, Sprint launched LTE in seven other areas: Bryan/College Station, Texas; Columbia, Tenn.; Emporia, Kan.; Farmington, Mass.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Gettysburg, Pa.; and Western Puerto Rico (including Aguadilla, Isabela, Cabo Rojo, Mayagüez).

In fact, Sprint plans to double its current number of LTE markets in the coming months, targeting both big and small areas. Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., are all on the list, as are Kerrville, Texas, and Shelby, N.C.


GigaOM