Just over one year ago T-Mobile was the fourth-largest mobile provider in the U.S., and for good reason. Instead of the 4G LTE networks that larger carriers were building out, T-Mobile had bet on the slower HSPA+ standard for its “4G” network. The company found itself with a comparatively slow high-speed network over a smaller area of the U.S. than its competitors.

Now T-Mobile is still the fourth-largest mobile provider but is quickly becoming the largest competitive force in the U.S. mobile industry.

T-Mobile recently announced that it will continue upgrading its 4G LTE network aggressively. The company has promised that through a new program to upgrade its EDGE data network to 4G LTE speeds. This means that customers currently stuck with the slow EDGE data connection should soon see their data speeds increase significantly.

T-Mobile claims that 210 million people in the U.S. already have access to its 4G LTE network. However, most of those people are in larger markets, allowing Verizon and AT&T an advantage in the vast rural parts of the U.S. This new initiative could help T-Mobile better compete with these larger carriers throughout the country.

“Right now, T-Mobile covers 96 percent of Americans, and over the past year, we’ve completely shattered records with the fastest 4G LTE deployment the U.S. wireless industry has ever seen.” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “Our competitors want you to believe our network doesn’t measure up. But that just isn’t true. And American consumers are going to see right through the spin and half-truths when given the facts.”

By the end of 2014 T-Mobile is promising to have around 50% of the work done to upgrade its EDGE network. In addition, the initiative will also involve deploying 4G LTE via the 700 MHz A-Block spectrum that the company recently agreed to acquire from Verison for $2.3 billion.

In addition to the upgrade, T-Mobile is now pushing back against what it claims are unfair advertisements by Verizon. The well-known ads feature maps showing the 4G LTE coverage of major U.S. mobile providers. As T-Mobile is still far behind in this respect, it is launching a new ad campaign to combat Verizon’s claims.

Image via T-Mobile