Verizon made a flurry of new 4G LTE market announcements yesterday, culminating with a claim that 2/3 of the U.S. population will be covered by Verizon 4G LTE service on April 19th. Among the series of announcements, several caught my eye, because they include smaller markets and more rural territory.
For example, Verizon Wireless To Blanket Small Towns In Middle Tennessee With High Speed 4G LTE, was one of several announcements that highlighted smaller market 4G LTE moves by Verizon. Some of these markets in middle Tennessee, like McMinville, Tennessee, are independent telco territory. Ben Lomand Connect in this case. It’s worth noting that Verizon has publicly said they intend to cover their entire existing 3G footprint with 4G LTE. They appear to be well on their way in accomplishing that.
“This has been the most aggressive technology roll out we’ve ever done,” Verizon Wireless spokesperson Karen Schulz told me in a brief phone interview. “We’ve already covered our largest markets.” That means smaller, and in some case, rural markets are next in line.
Take notice. If you operate a broadband network in a market that currently offers Verizon 3G service, 4G LTE from big red is on its way, if it’s not there already. Get prepared for some additional broadband competition, and not just of the wireless kind.
Verizon has already revealed that their 4G LTE network will power wireline replacement strategies. HomeFusion is a fixed wireless broadband product aimed at enticing would-be customers to cut the wireline broadband cord in favor of a wirelessly delivered broadband product to the home. Verizon also announced a T1 replacement type service, using LTE just today.
Does Verizon consider Amarillo, Texas, population 189,000, to be a small/rural market? How can Verizon say they have their larger markets covered while this major city sits without a bit of LTE coverage?
And what about the LTE in Rural America program participants? Have any of them launched or are they about to launch? I saw an article on this site that said Pioneer Cellular in Oklahoma had completed end-to-end testing of their LTE system back on December 16, 2011, but to date I don't think they have launched anything.
We should be seeing news fromPioneer and others regarding Verizon's rural 4G program sometime in the second quarter. At least that what Verizon is telling us.
I visited with a Pioneer rep at an event yesterday, he said they will be launching LTE sometime in May, but only in a very tiny portion of their area, just 5 sites along the east edge, along US 81, centered around Kingfisher, OK, where their home office is located. Future expansions to come later, no time frame.
He also told me that Pioneer will be getting the iPhone sometime soon. They are losing too many potential sales and even some current customers to not offer the phone.
Maybe they are going to launch them all at once. At the current rate, there is no way Verizon is going to meet their goal of a complete LTE overlay of their 3G system by June 30 of next year. Eventually they are going to have to start filling in the gaps between the dots of LTE, and it will probably take the LTE in Rural America participants to do that.