Verizon Shares Few Product Details as it Announces Deployment Plans for LTE
SAN FRANCISCO - Verizon executives shared few product details about the company’s pending LTE service with reporters Wednesday at CTIA, where they announced an aggressive deployment plan for the faster wireless data service. Verizon’s new LTE network will replicate its 3G network coverage within three years and by the end of this year, it will turn up LTE service in 38 U.S. markets using C-block 700 MHz spectrum, Verizon President Lowell McAdam said. Verizon is still working out how the service will be priced and marketed, he said. “We think there is a place for unlimited plans, but we think that over time … our customers are going to shift their consumption to more of a pay as you use plan,” he said. “I expect we will evolve to that, but I don’t think LTE necessarily forces us to that model."
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External modems will be the first devices Verizon makes available for the new service, but it plans to introduce a variety of smartphone and tablet devices that will work on the new network at CES in January, McAdam said. He declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Apple’s iPhone will soon be available on Verizon Wireless’s network. “Apple is the one who really has to make that announcement,” he said. The network will cover about 100 million people when it’s introduced later this year and about 200 million 18 months later. After three years, it will have the same coverage as Verizon’s 3G network today. The first mobile phones with LTE technology will still use Verizon’s 3G network to make voice calls, said Tony Malone, CTO.
The LTE network is very conducive to video consumption, and can handle downloads and uploads of video content at high speeds, Malone said. “We plan to exploit the network for that use,” he said. “Bandwidth is what it is, and spectrum is what it is. It’s not like a free for all, but the network works extremely well” for video, he said. Verizon will also look for flexibility from content owners about how it can optimize their video programming for wireless distribution, McAdam said. “Whether it’s time-shifted or over-the-top [video], the ability for the devices to handle it will really reach a crescendo,” he said. “I would think the content providers would want to talk” because “we need to work together on making it as efficient as possible."
Verizon has reached agreements with five rural carriers to lease its 700 MHz spectrum for their LTE deployments, McAdam said. The agreements also give those carriers the ability to roam on Verizon’s LTE networks in other markets, he said. He declined to say which carriers Verizon has partnered with so far, but said the company has had informal talks with another dozen potential partners.
If the FCC moves forward with plans to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act, carriers will have to go back to Congress to seek a fix, McAdam said. “If Title II is potentially in the offing from the FCC, then we do need to go to the Hill to get this resolved,” he said. But he’s reluctant to “ask for legislation or regulation,” he said.