Sprint LTE Coverage Set for Paris, Texas, and 27 More Small Markets

Sprint has added another 28 cities to its plodding LTE expansion as it scrambles to match the much larger 4G footprints of rivals Verizon and AT&T. Among the cities scheduled for commercial 4G LTE “in the coming months”: Paris, Texas; Decatur, Ala.; Winona, Minn.; Homosassa Springs, Fla.; and Glasgow, Ky.

Not what you’d call major markets, but progress is progress. And at this point Sprint needs to push its Network Vision plan ahead as quickly as it can. The company currently has LTE service available in just 49 cities, with 200 more in the works. And it has pledged to blanket its entire 3G footprint in LTE by year’s end.

That’s an aggressive schedule. And it doesn’t take into account unforeseen complications like those that have waylaid Sprint’s LTE rollout in the past. Recall that, last summer, Sprint blamed birds for slowing its LTE progress. “We’ve got several hundred sites that are done and ready to turn on and we’re waiting for backhaul,” Sprint Networks Operations President Steve Elfman said at the time. “And we’ve got several hundred others that … have birds nesting on them. Once the birds leave, we’ll be able to turn those sites on.”