Sprint iPhone 5 & Note 2 More Attractive with Planned 4G LTE Expansion

Those looking to buy 4G LTE devices like the iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on Sprint will have all the more reason as the carrier today announced a massive 4G LTE expansion that will be taking place in the coming months and will bring Sprint’s total of 4G LTE powered cities up from 49 to a whopping 150.

Read: Sprint 4G LTE Now Available in 49 New U.S. Markets.

The carrier announced the expansion today revealing 36 more upcoming cities that will be getting 4G LTE service in the weeks ahead and proclaiming that it will have 150 cities live with high-speed 4G LTE data in the coming months.

Sprint’s good news comes just a day after the carrier announced that its 4G LTE network was now live in 49 cities around the United States. And with the upcoming expansions, Sprint will be looking to hold its ground against its two main 4G LTE rivals, AT&T and Verizon, both of which possess 4G LTE networks that dwarf Sprint’s, at least at the moment.

While it may be lagging, Sprint says it will be looking to accelerate its 4G LTE growth in 2013 and it looks like it will be starting with the 36 new markets that the carrier announced today.

Those new markets include:

• Abbeville, La.
• Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas
• Blytheville, Ark.
• Brainerd, Minn.
• Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, Conn.
• Brownsville/Harlingen, Texas
• Crowley, La.
• Dalton, Ga.
• Duluth, Minn.
• Dunn, N.C.
• Durham/Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Eau Claire, Wisc.
• Greenwood, S.C.
• Jackson, Tenn.
• La Crosse, Wisc.
• Lafayette, La.
• Lawton, Okla.
• Little Rock/North Little Rock/Conway, Ark.
• Mankato/North Mankato, Minn.
• Muskogee, Okla.
• New Haven/Milford, Conn.
• New Iberia, La.
• North Wilkesboro, N.C.
• Oklahoma City
• Palm Coast, Fla.
• Pine Bluff, Ark.
• Ponca City, Okla.
• Raleigh/Cary, N.C.
• Rochester, Minn.
• Salinas, Calif.
• San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, Calif. Santa Cruz/Watsonville, Calif.
• Springfield, Mass.
• Searcy, Ark.
• St. Cloud, Minn.
• Stillwater, Okla.

Sprint did not say when customers in these areas might expect 4G LTE service to be lit up only saying that they would see 4G LTE data service arrive at some point in the coming months.

With 49 markets in place and 36 listed here, Sprint has another 65 markets that it will announce before it hits the 150 city mark. Right now, Sprint’s 4G LTE network possesses a much smaller footprint than the likes of AT&T and Verizon, the former of which boasts well over 100 cities and the latter which currently takes the 4G LTE crown with over 400 markets.

Verizon also expects to complete its 4G LTE roll out by the middle of 2013, long before AT&T and Sprint.

When Sprint’s new 4G LTE markets do go live, it will give those who live in those areas more incentive to buy 4G LTE equipped devices like the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the many upcoming 4G LTE enabled smartphones that will launch in 2013. Without 4G LTE service, 4G LTE enabled smartphones can only run on Sprint’s 3G CDMA network which is up to 10 times slower than Sprint’s 4G LTE network.