AT&T Touts 4G LTE Expansion Plans Ahead of iPad 3 Debut

A dozen new cities including some of America’s largest will soon get faster wireless speeds thanks to the expansion of AT&T‘s 4G LTE footprint.

The carrier announced Monday that St. Louis, Cleveland and Staten Island, N.Y., will all get the upgrade sometime in April, May or early summer. Also slated for LTE are Bloomington, Lafayette and Muncie, Ind.; New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.; Naples, Fla.; Akron and Canton, Ohio; and Bryan-College Station, Texas.

AT&T’s LTE network went live last fall, and the carrier is working to catch up with Verizon Wireless, whose similar network debuted more than a year ago.

Monday’s announcement comes just days before customers can get their hands on the Apple’s new iPad, available from both AT&T and Verizon, as well as from the Silicon Valley computer giant. The iPad this being the third-generation Apple tablet is compatible with the carriers’ LTE networks for the first time.