Verizon To Offer LTE Networks In 2010

In his remarks, Dick Lynch, Verizon executive vice president and CTO, said Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, would build the underlying infrastructure using Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as primary network vendors.

"LTE enables us to continue to meet business customer demands for a higher-bandwidth, low-latency service that works broadly in the United States and globally, while helping us to meet consumer demand for mobilizing the many applications they frequently use when tethered to high-bandwidth wired networks," Lynch said at Mobile World Congress.

Verizon Wireless and Vodafone have been field-testing 4G LTE networks in Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and northern New Jersey, as well as in Europe in Budapest, Dusseldorf and Madrid. Those field trials have demonstrated download rates of 50- to 60-Mbps peak speeds; actual average download results will not be determined until the commercial launch of the new LTE network. Verizon Wireless will expand trials this summer.

Verizon's total capital expenditures totaled approximately $17 billion USD in 2008. Lynch noted that LTE network costs would be within the company's overall program as spending evolves from older technologies to new strategic initiatives, including LTE. Verizon will maintain commercial service on 3G well into the next decade.

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