Sprint plans to offer 4G LTE and improved 3G coverage in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and San Antonio markets in the first half of 2012. Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse announced LTE plans today at the annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference.

The launch of these metropolitan areas marks the next step in the company’s overall network strategy, also known as Network Vision. Sprint’s Network Vision platform involves the deployment of multimode base stations across many of Sprint’s cell sites throughout the country. The first completed deployment of a multimode base station was in Branchburg, N.J., in December 2011.

“Within the first half of 2012, Sprint customers should experience first-hand the wide-reaching improvements we have made in terms of boosting voice and data quality,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president – Network, Sprint.