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by Roger Cheng June 27, 2013 5:56 AM PDT Follow @RogerWCheng 
Not the fastest anymore.(Credit:Lynn La/CNET)Verizon Wireless is close to the finish line with its 4G LTE rollout.
The nation's largest wireless carrier by subscribers said on Thursday that its network has reached its 500th market with Parkersburg, W. Va. The company said it has virtually wrapped up its deployment, with a handful of markets left to get a 4G connection by the end of the year.
The milestone further cements Verizon's position as the leader in 4G LTE in the U.S., with by far the largest next-generation network among all carriers. In addition, the completion of the rollout means Verizon can focus on adding other improvements, including moving voice over to the LTE network and moving toward an even faster LTE Advanced technology.
Related storiesVerizon says first LTE-only phones to arrive in late 2014Frustrated with Verizon's smartphone lineup? You're not aloneVerizon upgrades rugged G'zOne series with LTE modelSamsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition debuts for Verizon usersThe 404 1,290: Where we feel the vibrations (podcast)"We expect 4G LTE will see greater growth in months and years ahead," Nikki Palmer, chief network officer of Verizon Wireless, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday.
Verizon's achievement, however, comes as its network takes a backseat to AT&T in a recent round of speed tests. Tests conducted by Root Metrics and PC Magazine found AT&T to have the fastest overall network -- a fact AT&T hasn't been shy about trumpeting.
Verizon's argument has been that it's more about coverage and reliability than speed, and Palmer stuck to the party line in her defense of the company.
"I'm not sitting here trying to figure out how I win a mantle of speed," she said. "My aim is to deliver speeds I need and a comprehensive solution -- which includes fast speeds."
What Verizon has achieved in so little time has been impressive. In roughly two and a half years, the carrier managed to blanket 99 percent of its older 3G network with 4G LTE. The 3G network took twice as long to build out.
Its 500 markets dwarf the 291 markets that AT&T said it hit on Wednesday, with Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile much further behind. Verizon's network covers 298 million people and 95 percent of the U.S. population.
Verizon plans to double the capacity of its network by using radio airwaves -- designated AWS -- the company acquired from the cable companies. LTE devices compatible with AWS will start to show up later this year, Palmer said.
LTE has been a crucial selling point as consumers gravitate toward faster networks to better enable them to browse the Web, share photos and videos, and play online games on their mobile devices. More powerful smartphones and more sophisticated apps are continuously driving the consumption of bandwidth on the network.
Palmer said she sees LTE traffic -- which already carries 57 percent of the company's total data traffic -- growing six- to seven-fold over the next three years.
In addition to its own network, Verizon has licensed the use of its spectrum to 20 smaller carriers, and Palmer said they collectively offer LTE to 2.8 million people in rural communities across 14 states.
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