Year-end US Carrier Coverage Report

Year-end US Carrier Coverage Report

Posted by Sam Churchill on December 18th, 2014

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility say their 3G/4G coverage in the United States is now pretty much universal with more than 300 million pops currently covered, mostly due to both carrier’s extensive 700 MHz LTE networks. Now it’s a matter of keeping up with capacity requirements.

Sprint says its LTE network now covers 260 million people, mostly through the use of 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band. Next year, Sprint’s Chief Network Officer John Saw said Sprint will continue to build out its LTE network with its 800 MHz buildout about halfway finished. “We expect to be substantially complete with our LTE 800 MHz build by the end of 2015 in markets where the spectrum is available,” according to Saw.

Sprint’s 2.5 GHz coverage is now available in 62 markets, utilizing the carrier’s Spark program, reports Saw, which combines 800Mhz, 1.9GHz and 2.5 GHz. Their 2.5 GHz network covers about 100 million people.

Meanwhile T-Mobile US CTO Neville Ray said the carrier’s LTE network coverage currently serves a similar 260 million pops, matching Sprint. Ray says T-Mobile is now on track to cover 280 million people with 4G LTE by mid-2015, and expects to hit the 300 million mark by the end of 2015.

T-Mobile has acquired more 700 MHz spectrum in the “A” block, reports FierceWireless, with the carrier making several deals for airwaves with small license holders in the last few months.