AT&T 4G LTE now covers over 150 million people

Just a couple of days ago we reported that AT&T's latest 4G LTE launch happened in a few big cities across the US, including Denver, Milwaukee, and Louisville. Today, the carrier officially announced that their 4G LTE network is now covering over 150 million people, and the coverage has so far doubled in 2012.

Of course, 150 million doesn't come close to Verizon's 260 million that are planned to be covered with 4G LTE by the end of the year, but AT&T is well on their way to that number. AT&T 4G LTE is now live in over 100 markets across the United States, a number that AT&T didn't originally plan on hitting until the end of 2012.

AT&T launched LTE service today in Portland, Oregon and Pensacola, Florida, and are still working on adding LTE to other parts of the country who still have yet to receive it. Today, AT&T said its 4G LTE is available in 103 markets, compared to 53 in August and just a mere 26 at the beginning of 2012, which it only covered 76 million Americans at the time.

Since AT&T's 4G LTE network first launched last August, the carrier has made clear of its intention to catch Verizon, but AT&T doesn't plan to reach that point until late next year, and its complete rollout of 4G LTE won't be completed until the end of 2014, which will be a year after Verizon is finished with their own 4G LTE rollout. In any case, both carriers have emphasized how committed they are to bringing the faster data service to as much of the country as possible.