Sprint today announced that it has launched LTE service in four new markets across four states. Bringing the total number of major markets to six, Sprint’s new 4G technology arrives in Baltimore, the site where the carrier first deployed its WiMax (Xohm) service nearly four years ago.
Acknowledging that it put its eggs in the wrong basket, Sprint has had to start anew with an LTE build-out.
In addition to Baltimore, the carrier now offers LTE in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Mo., and San Antonio.
Unofficially, customers in the San Francisco Bay Area are seeing 4G speeds as well. In addition, there are a number of smaller cities and areas also seeing 4G LTE, including Gainesville, Ga., and Sedalia, Mo.
While Sprint will no longer continue to use its WiMax service as it once did, its prepaid brands — Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile — will piggyback on WiMax through Sprint’s pre-existing partnership with Clearwire. In the meantime, Sprint will continue chugging along to build up its LTE network, hoping to finish most of its rollout by the end of 2013.