Mosaik Solutions shows quarter-by-quarter LTE coverage development in the U.S.

LTE networks have been live in the U.S. since 2010, and each of the four Tier 1 carriers now covers at least 250 million POPs with LTE, with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) each covering at least 300 million people. However, have you ever wanted to see how LTE coverage in the U.S. developed over time? Mosaik Solutions has done just that.

In the third quarter of 2010, when MetroPCS was kicking off its first LTE networks, only 7.5 percent of the U.S. population was covered by LTE. When Verizon launched its initial 38 LTE networks in the fourth quarter of 2010, the total aggregate LTE coverage in the U.S. increased to 39.3 percent of the population, according to Mosaik. That figure expanded rapidly.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, 67.4 percent of the U.S. population was covered by an LTE network, Mosaik reports. By the end of 2012, 90.3 percent of the population was under the LTE umbrella, still with large chunks of the country in the Midwest and Rock Mountain region not covered by LTE.

However, that changed over the course of 2013, and by the end of 2013, 98.4 percent of the U.S. population was covered by an LTE network. Deployments trickled in after that, and as of the end of the third quarter, 99.3 percent of the U.S. population was covered by LTE service from one carrier or another. Animation