AT&T plans to launch its LTE network around the middle of next year and will cover some 70-75 million people by the end of 2011. 

The company is currently carrying out trials of the LTE networks in Dallas and Baltimore, said John Stankey, who heads AT&T's Business Solutions unit and oversees its networks, according to a FierceWireless report.

Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey said the company is actively working with its primary LTE vendor partners--Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent to get the network ready for launch.

The company is spending $700 million in capital expenditures on LTE this year and "will go far beyond that" in 2011, Stankey said.

Verizon has already confirmed the plans to launch LTE in 30 cities this year covering 100 million people.