Verizon adds 19 more cities to its LTE network
Computerworld - Verizon Wireless announced 19 more cities that will get its faster LTE wireless network service starting Thursday, bringing the total to 74 metropolitan areas. — San Francisco and Detroit, already on Verizon LTE since last December …
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon's LTE rollout is moving from promise to map. In March, Verizon named a 145-market target for the end of 2011; Thursday's launch of 19 more cities brings the live total to 74 metropolitan areas, roughly half of that commitment, on top of markets like San Francisco and Detroit that have had LTE since the network's December debut.
The timing matters because the build-out lands alongside two other confirmed Verizon moves this year: bringing the iPhone 4 to its network in January, and its CFO's stated plan to replace unlimited data with usage-based tiered pricing around mid-summer. Faster capacity and new pricing are arriving together.
First-order effects
- Subscribers in the 19 newly launched cities gain access to Verizon's faster LTE service starting Thursday, lifting covered metropolitan areas from 55 to 74.
- Verizon moves visibly toward the 145-market goal it set in March, giving its sales channel an expanding footprint to sell LTE-capable devices into.
Second-order effects
- Rivals AT&T and Sprint face mounting pressure to match Verizon's coverage pace, since LTE availability is becoming a differentiator at the point of smartphone and tablet purchase.
- The added capacity gives Verizon the headroom to follow through on ending unlimited iPhone data in favor of tiers, shifting revenue from flat-rate plans to usage-based billing.
Third-order effects
- If the quarterly city-by-city cadence holds through 2011, LTE coverage shifts from a premium niche to table stakes across major U.S. metros, forcing device makers and carriers alike to treat 4G as the default rather than the upsell.
The trend: U.S. carriers are racing to convert 4G spectrum into nationwide metro coverage, with Verizon setting the pace that rivals must answer and metered data pricing riding alongside.