The 4G battle between WiMAX and LTE here in the U.S. is heating up at CTIA 2009 in San Diego.  After the keynote address by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, vice president of government affairs for Sprint, Vonya B. McCann issued the following statement,

“Sprint Nextel shares with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski the view that American business and consumers benefit from the deployment of 4G mobile broadband networks. At Sprint, we are proud to be the first and only nationwide wireless carrier to offer 4G in the United States. For Sprint customers, 4G isn’t the future, 4G is here now. Sprint 4G is available in 16 markets today and we expect to offer Sprint 4G service to 120 million people in 80 markets by the end of 2010.”

120 million people in 80 markets by the end of 2010 is a serious statement.  Only time will tell whether Sprint can deliver on this promise, but if they don’t we’ll sure be here to refresh their memory as usual.

[Via Sprint]