At the Mobile World Conference this week it was expected that Verizon would announce its LTE (Long Term Evolution) agenda. What was not expected was how specific Verizon would be with its plans.
Verizon is usually low key on putting out deadlines but in the case of LTE, it is quite clear what Verizon has in mind. Two cities in the United States will become testing locations in late 2009 for the LTE technology with a nation-wide rollout to follow in 2010; consisting of 25-30 top markets.
"No pricing plans were set, and no specifics were mentioned of actual data download speeds; rather, Verizon CTO Richard Lynch would only say that the real speeds would not be known until the real-world tests are made. Peak trial speeds have been set at 60 Mbps so far."
These plans are more aggressive than what AT&T has announced which will commence testing in 2011 with a limited expansion in 2012.