AT&T has confirmed that its first five LTE markets rolling out this summer will consist of Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio with ten more markets to be named at a later date with rollouts also to be confirmed. AT&T is currently in the process of purchasing T-Mobile USA, which is triggering controversy from the US government and the wireless industry due to the decrease in competition in the marketplace that is feared if the purchase and subsequent merger is allowed to be completed. AT&T is justifying the merger via the expansion of LTE to complete national coverage with the addition of T-Mobile’s assets.
Currently, AT&T is rolling out LTE on the 700MHz band and is quickly searching for more spectrum to purchase in order to roll out the network nationwide, which is triggering outrage from rural operators that are fighting AT&T’s continued purchases of spectrum due to the same fears regarding competition and the additional concern of roaming access.
