Sprint affiliate ShenTel launches LTE in 56 markets

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) regional affiliate Shenandoah Telecommunications confirmed that it launched LTE service in around 56 markets in the Mid-Atlantic, expanding Sprint’s LTE footprint by roughly 735,000 POPs.

Sprint confirmed that it launched LTE service in 11 more markets in the Northeast and Midwest, bringing the number of LTE markets it operates to 43.

Shentel COO Earle MacKenzie told FierceWireless that the company had launched its LTE service on Nov. 23 in areas of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Shentel is using Alcatel-Lucent (NASDAQ: ALU) network equipment for its deployment. Alcatel-Lucent is one the vendors for Sprint’s Network Vision network modernization project. Shentel said in February it would launch LTE in its service area.

MacKenzie said that the carrier’s initial deployment runs roughly from Harrisonburg, Va., up to Hagerstown, Md., along Interstate 81, and also includes the greater Harrisburg, Pa., area as well as Carlyle and Hershey, Pa. He said the deployment covers 25 percent of Shentel’s cell sites and 35 percent of its 2.1 million customers.