Computerworld:

Sprint officials today announced an accelerated rollout of LTE wireless technology on Friday — and said that it will continue to support its millions of Wimax smartphone and device customers beyond 2012.Sprint officials told analysts that the company’s LTE network will begin rolling out in some markets in mid-2012, and that it would reach some 275 million potential U.S. customers by early 2014.

Once Sprint and Verizon have a wide deployment of LTE, Apple will have to begin offering an LTE-capable iPhone. The company’s president of network operations told those gathered at today’s announcement that Sprint expects its first LTE phones to be offered in mid 2012.