US operator Sprint has confirmed that it will switch on its first LTE networks in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio on 15 July.

Sprint says the launches will extend LTE service to “millions of people” in the five major metropolitan areas, while more markets will be switched on by year-end, likely to include Baltimore. By the end of 2013, the operator says it expects to have “largely completed” the build-out of the 4G network, providing service to 250 million people across the US.

“[Rival operators] Verizon and AT&T have a head start in LTE, but hopefully we will close the gap pretty soon,” Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told Bloomberg. “We will be pushing hard to get more markets launched as soon as we possibly can.”

According to Bloomberg, market-leader Verizon Wireless is already offering LTE in 304 US cities, while AT&T’s LTE network is live in 41 cities.

Sprint has already launched five 4G devices capable of accessing its new network, each costing less than US$200 – the HTC EVO 4G LTE (US$199.99); LG Viper 4G LTE (US$99.99); Samsung Galaxy Nexus (US$199.99); Samsung Galaxy S III (US$199.99 for 16GB version) and the Sierra Wireless 4G LTE Tri-Fi Hotspot (US$99.99).