AT&T is finally starting to expand its 4G LTE market to improve coverage for the many capable devices it plans on releasing throughout 2012. Of these, the Samsung Galaxy Note and Nokia Lumia 900 are soon on their way; the Note’s release date is only 3 days away.

AT&T had already rolled out LTE in Charlotte, NC, and now they’ve flipped the switch for the entire Durham area. Orlando, Florida already had 4G LTE, but they’ve managed to expand there as well with new markets in the Tampa, St. Petersberg, Sarasota, and Bradenton areas. This puts AT&T at 28 4G LTE cities/areas.

Having adopted 4G LTE much later than Verizon Wireless, AT&T has a much thinner blanket over the nation. Verizon passed their 178 market target for 2011, and hasn’t slowed down a bit. We can’t put AT&T down just yet though, as they’re already ahead of other carriers for putting this new-gen tech to good use. As for T-Mobile and the Now network – it’s going to be a long road when trying to catch up to the big boys.

[via SlashGear]