We just had the pleasure of meeting Nicola Palmer, Chief Technology Officer for Verizon Wireless. The press conference we attended was about the the current state and future plans for Verizon’s 4G LTE network.
I will break down some points and post the video later today when Verizon makes it available.
Verizon made the push for LTE 2 years ago with a goal of having the network active in 400 markets by the end of 2012. Right now Verizon LTE covers over 75% of the population. Verizon is going to exceed their original goal on October 18th when a total of 410 markets will be live on LTE, two and a half months prior to their self imposed December 31, 2012 deadline.
In addition to having 410 LTE markets live on October 18th, Verizon stated they are committed to entirely covering their existing 3G footprint with LTE by the end of 2013. While this sounds like a long time Verizon has been aggressively rolling out the network at a rate faster than any other carrier.
At the end of September 2012, 35% of all data traffic handled by Verizon Wireless was on its LTE network. They expect 50% of network traffic to be carried on the LTE network in just a few more months. This goes a long way in showing Verizon’s dedication to LTE and the 37 current devices they offer that support LTE. It took 8 years for Verizon to get 3G to the 50% adoption rate, LTE only took 2 years.
Like every mobile network you can’t rest when a technology is “fully” deployed. Verizon has already begun testing voice over LTE which will provide a high definition voice experience. In addition deployment and testing of LTE Advanced has begun and should start rolling out to towers in the 700 MHz spectrum mid to late 2013.
What does all this mean to a Verizon Wireless customer or potential customer? It means Verizon has a solid foundation for their network and is already getting a jump on competition by deploying the best as fast as possible. Data speeds and communication reliability have always been the focus of Verizon and they have proven they can deliver with the LTE network. The 6 billion dollars spent on Verizon’s network infrastructure annually, is money well invested.
Not only can Verizon claim to have the nations largest 4G LTE network, they can also easily claim the worlds largest 4G LTE network. We will have more info on the network and their 400th market celebration leading up to October 18.
Are you a Verizon LTE customer? What do you think of the network?
