Verizon to Tap Multiple Industries for LTE Rollout
Verizon eyes companies across industries for its Long Term Evolution deployment, Tom Sawanobori, vice president of Verizon Network planning, said in an interview. The carrier, which recently tapped Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as its LTE equipment vendors, will shift some EV-DO networks to LTE as it expands its 4G coverage, but will still be committed to its existing networks, Sawanobori said.
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The 4G technology that’s also backed by AT&T and T- Mobile, is expected to tap the healthcare and automobile industries and more. LTE will enable applications and services that are non-traditional because of its high capacity and low latency, Sawanobori said. The company’s very interested in exploring opportunities in the health care sector, he said. He envisioned cars and other appliances with embedded LTE chips. Machine-to-machine communications will also be a big part of the LTE plan, he said. LTE provides significantly increased peak data rates, with the potential for 100 Mbps downstream and 30 Mbps upstream, said LTE standard developer 3GPP.
However, initially, the data-centric technology, will be seen as a laptop play, Sawanobori said, saying the early devices will be dual-mode. As the technology matures and the networks roll out, LTE will expand to other Internet applications and ultimately to consumer electronics like cameras, gaming devices, and potentially to smartphones as well, he said, envisioning high megabyte cameras with embedded LTE chips which will allow uploading pictures remotely.
The carrier will continue its LTE trials this year, Sawanobori said, saying the company’s planning a “significant footprint in 2010.” He didn’t say when the first commercial service will be launched. Meanwhile, there won’t be incremental network spending increase due to LTE deployment, he said, saying there won’t be significant changes in capital expenditure this year.
The company’s still committed to its EV-DO network, Sawanobori said, reiterating Verizon Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch’s earlier comment that the company expects to maintain commercial service on its 3G service well into the next decade. But there will be more focus on next generation broadband data-based technology, Sawanobori said. When asked about the markets for LTE and another 4G technology, WiMAX, Sawanobori said there’s some overlap, but in many ways, providers are looking at different market segments. Consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group agreed, saying WiMAX will capture the rural and developing-world market for broadband connectivity and some of the enhanced DSL connectivity market. The higher speed connectivity for smart-phones will likely take the LTE route, it said, but warned that the LTE market may grow much slower than anticipated due to the lack of critical applications.