14 DAY TRIAL // United States mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless has already announced its plans to deploy a next-generation 4G network based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and we know that the company intends to release the network commercially in 2010, yet now we learn that only 20-30 markets will see LTE by the second half of next year.
According to the news, the company's CEO Lowell McAdam stated during a recent conference call that the 4G LTE services were expected to roll out on said markets, while the nationwide coverage will only be reached sometime in late 2013 or in early 2014. Back at the MWC show in February, the carrier gave only a few details on its plans regarding the LTE network, only announcing that it should start rolling it out in 2010.
As many of you might already know, the Long Term Evolution services will come along with the 4G network, aimed at supplementing and eventually replacing the currently existing CDMA system, and expected to be compatible with similar services that carriers like AT&T and MetroPCS plan to deploy in the near future as well.
According to Verizon Wireless, the move to LTE is expected to enable it to offer average data speeds between 8 and 12 Mbps. During the aforementioned conference call, the company also unveiled the fact that the LTE devices that it would offer would all come with swappable SIM cards. In addition, Big Red also stated that the certification requirements would be above the minimum, which means that the swappable SIM cards would only work on devices Verizon has already certified. The mobile phone carrier is expected to keep its existing 2G CDMA services even after the LTE network is rolled-out and starts gaining momentum. In addition, the company's CEO also stated that the cost of mobile data services was expected to lower. At the same time, he announced that the operator's 3G EV-DO network would most likely have a shorter life cycle than 2G CDMA.