AT&T plans to turn up additional 4G LTE markets, including New York City, this month, and expects to cover 70 million people with its LTE network by year-end 2011,

AT&T plans to turn up additional 4G LTE markets, including New York City, this month, and expects to cover 70 million people with its LTE network by year-end 2011, consistent with its previously announced plans, according to John Stephens, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Stephens also announced that AT&T is on track to break its single-quarter record for smartphone sales. Speaking at the UBS 39th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, Stephens said that AT&T sold about 6 million smartphones in the first two months of the fourth quarter. Because December is traditionally one of the strongest sales months, AT&T now expects to break the previous single-quarter smartphone record of 6.1 million.

AT&T’s strong smartphone sales in part reflect a higher number of handset upgrades from customers who were waiting for the launch of a new iPhone. AT&T previously announced that it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S’ in the first five days the device was available. AT&T said iPhone 4S sales remain strong. Only on AT&T’s network can iPhone 4S users download three times faster and talk and surf at the same time.