Verizon plans to double LTE market coverage

Cable and wireless provider Verizon Wireless will double the number of cities its LTE network will be available in over three years, said the company's CTO, Tony Melone. First launched as a trial, the high-speed 4G network will see saturation in between 50 and 60 total markets before the end of 2013, Verizon promises. In some instances where it does not have a 3G network, Verizon will go straight to LTE, skipping over the upgrade to 3G altogether.

As for when 4G networks will begin to support voice calls, Melone said the system will technically be ready to do so in 2011. It's not yet certrain whether the 4G voice experience will be good enough for voice calling. Verizon says 4G speeds will range between 5 and 12Mbps for downloads and 2 and 5Mbps for uploads.

Verizon also recently revealed that the company is looking at about eight or 10 LTE-capable devices that include USB dongles and a few cellphones as well. When they will launch is unknown, but most of these are unlikely to appear until sometime in 2011. AT&T isn't expected to start its own commercial LTE service until the same year, as it doesn't expect enough devices to be available beofre that point. [via FierceWireless]

By Electronista Staff