SFR, the French telecom operator, has launched LTE in Lille and revealed network roll out plan for the second half of 2013. Operator plans national coverage with LTE in 55 cities by the end of the year.

By the end of the year, SFR expects to offer LTE and DC-HSPA+ coverage to 70% of the population, more than half of which will be LTE.

Operator has also announced a discount of 30 € on the full range of 4G smartphones. SFR is currently offering several LTE smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, the BlackBerry Q10 and soon will add new Sony Xperia SP, Nokia Lumia 925 and BlackBerry Q5.

The announced cities are Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulon, Grenoble, Rouen, Strasbourg, Avignon, Montpellier, Saint-Etienne, Tours, Valenciennes, Rennes, Metz, Nancy, Orleans, Clermont-Ferrand, Mulhouse, Le Havre Dijon, Angers, Reims, Le Mans, Brest, Pau, Caen, Chambéry, Amiens Annecy, Annemasse, Besançon, Valencia, Troyes, Thionville, Poitiers, La Rochelle, Fréjus, Vienna, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Sète, Roanne , Agen, Tarbes, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Chalon-sur-Saone, Niort, Blois, Beauvais, Bourg-en-Bresse, Arles, Romans-sur-Isere.