US operator Sprint has announced the first regions which will be covered by its planned LTE rollout, promising coverage in the “first half of 2012.”

The initial deployment will cover Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, in what it said “marks the next step in the company’s overall network strategy, also known as Network Vision.”

Bob Azzi, Sprint’s SVP – Network, said: “With advanced smartphones and sophisticated wireless modems, our customers are using more and more mobile data, and one of our top priorities is to provide the best technology possible to improve our customers’ experience.”

Separately, Bloomberg reports that Sprint is holding back on investments related to its partnership with LightSquared, until the planned wholesale LTE network operator gets the relevant approvals from the US regulators.

Initially revealed by CEO Dan Hesse in a presentation, the move was confirmed by an email which told the publication: “the companies have agreed to realigning our deployment timeline to coincide with potential FCC actions.”

LightSquared has been embroiled in a long action to prove its network will not interfere with the operation of high-performance GPS systems.

Sprint’s rival AT&T also said yesterday that it has switched on its LTE network in 11 more markets, including New York City metro areas, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This takes its network deployment to 26 markets with 74 million population coverage.

The company said it expects its LTE rollout to be “largely complete by the end of 2013.”

Both Sprint and AT&T are behind Verizon Wireless, which recently said its network is available in 190 markets with population coverage of 200 million. However, this company has encountered some performance issues with its network, noting in a statement that “being a pioneer comes with growing pains.”