Verizon will start building LTE network No. 2 this year

Kevin Fitchard — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:26:34 +0000

Now that Verizon has closed its blockbuster spectrum deal with the cable operators it’s ready to break ground on its second 4G network. In an interview with FierceWireless, Verizon Wireless CTO Nicola Palmer said Verizon would deploy 5,000 LTE cellsites this year in the Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) band, layering mobile data capacity onto the 4G network it’s already built in the 700 MHz band.

In 2014, Palmer added, Verizon will start building a much broader footprint in the new band. What’s more, Palmer said that Verizon would start selling its first AWS compatible devices in the next few months.

“You can’t have the network without compatible devices,” Palmer told Fierce’s Sue Marek. “We have already given the OEMs guidance on that strategy. The first half of this year we will see AWS-compatible devices in our lineup so when the network comes online in the second half, we will take advantage of that.”

There are some major implications in Verizon’s move:

Verizon is now ready to start focusing on capacity instead of coverage. Palmer said Verizon’s 700 MHz LTE network will cover 90 percent of the U.S. population this year, meaning there will be few populated places where Verizon customers can’t get a 4G signal. It has enough AWS spectrum to double its LTE capacity nationwide, and almost everywhere east of the Mississippi it can triple it. That means it will be able to support more 4G subscribers and more 4G devices and eventually it will be able to boost 4G speeds.
The AWS band uses 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies, which make it an ideal spectrum for urban deployments. The lower the frequency, the further radio waves propagate, so while 700 MHz was perfect for Verizon’s coverage network, you can expect Verizon to be more selective about where it builds the second network. It will likely target cities and other high-traffic areas and it may even USE AWS for its first indoor and outdoor small cells.
By moving to AWS, Verizon will actually have a 4G band in common with other North American carriers. T-Mobile’ and the Canadian operator use the band. AT&T owns AWS licenses as well and is already sells devices that support those frequencies (the iPhone 5 is one of them). Network fragmentation has been a huge problem in the U.S., requiring handset vendors to make different variants of their devices for different carriers. With the operators coalescing around AWS, we could get a step closer to a smartphones that work across all carriers’ networks.

Other operators have plans to launch LTE over a second band as well: AT&T will make use of its newly minted 4G band in the 2.3 GHz frequencies, while Sprint will refarm the 800 MHz airwaves currently occupied by its Nextel network for LTE. Both operators are still at least a year away from making those plans reality.

By putting LTE into a second band, Verizon could also become the first U.S. operator to start down the path toward the next-generation of mobile technology called LTE-Advanced. The first LTE-Advanced technique we’re likely to see is called carrier aggregation, which bonds two disparate spectrum bands together to create a single super-fast air link. Verizon could choose to merge its two LTE networks, effectively doubling the uplink and downlink speeds available to its customers.

Several U.S. operators — from Sprint and T-Mobile to Clearwire and Dish Network — have talked a big game about LTE-Advanced, abusing the term to make their networks seem more sophisticated than they are. Ironically, Verizon has never made any boasts about LTE-Advanced, but it might well be the first U.S. operator that commercially implements the first LTE-Advanced technique.

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Verizon: 35% of data traffic now rides over LTE

Kevin Fitchard — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:53:08 +0000

Though only 12 percent of Verizon’s contract customers have an LTE device, that 12 percent is consuming vast quantities of data. Speaking at CTIA’s MobileCon in San Diego, Verizon Wireless CTO Nicola Palmer said that 35 percent of all of the carrier’s mobile data traffic now traverses the not-yet-2-year-old 4G network.

In a few months 4G traffic will increase to 50 percent of the total, Palmer said. Though she didn’t go into details on why they expect such a huge jump in such a short period, it’s easy to guess the reason. The iPhone 5 is the first iteration of the iconic Apple device to sport LTE radios. As Verizon sells millions of new iPhones leading up the holidays, Verizon will begin shifting the iPhone’s huge data load from its 3G CDMA networks to LTE.

Palmer also said that Verizon will hit its 2012 goals for coverage on Oct. 18, when it will launch its 400^th market, Marquette, Mich. In 2013, Verizon will largely be filling in the gaps between cities and towns, and by the end of that year, Verizon’s LTE network will be everywhere its current 3G EV-DO network operates, Palmer said.

In 2013, Verizon will also begin deploying its second 4G network over the airwaves it just bought from its new cable partners. Palmer said Verizon has already started laying the groundwork for that launch, but the doubling in network capacity that would accompany the upgrade won’t begin until mid next year, she said.

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Verizon will start building LTE network No. 2 this year

Verizon: 35% of data traffic now rides over LTE