BARCELONA, Spain – Verizon Wireless will build the first next-generation long term evolution (LTE) network by 2010, making it the first wireless company to offer commercial LTE-based service in the United States.
The company made the announcement Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The technology will deliver “unprecedented wireless broadband service” for high performance mobile computing, multimedia, and consumer electronic devices and applications, the press release said.
In addition to supporting applications that businesses and consumers can only access today through high-speed wireline networks, LTE also offers the possibility of providing coverage in rural areas not currently served by wireless broadband.
But most importantly, the release continued, a wide-area wireless LTE network will be able to connect a full range of consumer electronics devices and machines to each other, “the holy grail of true wireless interconnectivity.”
"The appetite for new and innovative broadband services is insatiable: people want new and customized content, relevant information and services, and increased opportunities to communicate with each other and the world around them”, said Dick Lynch, Verizon’s executive vice president and CTO, in the release. “With the promise of more advanced devices and applications, Verizon is ready to lead the way in harnessing the power of LTE, at the onset of the LTE revolution."
Verizon participated in recent LTE network trials conducted in the United States and Europe. The company said that once the initial rollout is complete, “plans are in place for aggressive deployment” throughout its network, including areas not currently covered by its existing footprint.
The company also named Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as primary network vendors for its initial LTE network deployments in the US, and Starent Networks as a packet core vendor.
www.verizonwireless.com
www.ericsson.com
www.alcatel-lucent.com
www.starentnetworks.com
