AT&T adds several new markets to LTE network

AT&T is continuing its rollout of 4G LTE to newer markets, and today the carrier announced several new additions to the LTE heat map. Six locations in all now have AT&T's blazing-fast data speeds, including Northwest Georgia; Albany, GA; Cecil County, MD; Norfolk/Portsmouth/Virginia Beach in Virginia; Montgomery County, PA; and Bucks County, PA.

With these new areas now blanketed with 4G, this brings AT&T's total LTE coverage to 141 markets covering some 170 million people. It's always great to see AT&T expanding their network, but they're still far behind Verizon in terms of coverage. Big Red currently covers more than 470 markets and over 270 million people.

However, Ma Bell seems to be picking up steam more and more as the months go by, with the carrier announcing new markets every week it seems, and as far as how many new markets get announced every month, AT&T is clearly on top, while Verizon is beginning to wind down a bit as it gets closer to completely blanketing its 3G network.

AT&T recently acquired Alltel late last month in order to bolster its spectrum and gain more customers. While Alltel wasn't a huge carrier by any means, the acquisition saw a boost in AT&T's spectrum and user base by a few million. And even though the carrier reported a huge net loss last quarter, they seem to be trekking on, announcing over the weekend that they saw record usage during the Super Bowl.