In June, Verizon announced the completion of their 4G LTE cellular and data network across Alabama. Now, their main competitor in the cellular and data market, AT&T has announced they plan to bring the fourth generation service to Selma and Dothan before the end of the year.

“Get ready for more speed! By the end of this year, we plan to roll out 4G LTE in Dothan and Selma,” an AT&T email to employees said. “This is great news for our customers in the area who will enjoy even faster mobile Internet speeds on the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network.”

In a release on AT&T’s website, the company reported they had invested nearly $1.4 billion in its Alabama wireless and wired networks between 2010 through 2012.

In the first half of 2013, AT&T said it had invested more than $200 million in its wireless and wired networks in Alabama.

The investments included deployment of new macro cell sites, small cells and Distributed Antenna Systems across the state as a part of AT&T’s Project Velocity IP, a three-year investment plan announced last fall to expand and enhance its IP broadband networks. The company also expanded and enhanced its 4G LTE network, which provides ultra-fast mobile Internet speeds, and deployed new Wi-Fi hot spots.

AT&T 4G LTE is now available in multiple areas of the state, including Auburn-Opelika, Birmingham, Cullman, Decatur, Florence-Muscle Shoals, Greenville, Huntsville, Mobile, Monroeville-Evergreen, Montgomery, Troy and Tuscaloosa.

Just as with other 4G services, consumers must have mobile devices that are 4G compatible in order to experience the faster speeds, service.

After first launching their 4G LTE network in Montgomery and Mobile nearly two years ago, Verizon Wireless announced in late June the company’s high-speed network is now complete across the state.

Since 2010, Verizon said it had invested more than $340 million on its network in Alabama, with a substantial portion of that supporting its 4G LTE rollout.

“We were the first wireless provider to introduce 4G LTE to Alabama just two years ago, and now more than four million Alabamians have access to our blazing fast network, which reaches beyond the state’s major cities into rural Alabama,” said Jonathan LeCompte, president of the Georgia and Alabama region for Verizon Wireless, said in the June announcement. “With a wireless network that offers speeds comparable to broadband cable Internet, our customers are discovering how 4G LTE revolutionizes the way we communicate.”