AT&T, Sprint Promote LTE Phones With Unfinished Networks
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AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. are ramping up marketing for new smartphones with speedy LTE service. The hitch: Most of their customers don’t live anywhere near an LTE network.
The carriers are playing catch-up with Verizon Wireless, which offers the service widely. LTE, short for long-term evolution, is a new wireless standard that provides faster access to the Web. AT&T offers it in 35 markets, reaching about a quarter of the total U.S. population. Sprint doesn’t have any LTE service yet. It plans to roll it out in six cities sometime around the middle of the year.