Verizon to deploy commercial LTE network by 2010

Today Verizon Wireless detailed plans to build the first next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the U.S., at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Verizon Wireless hopes to offer commercial LTE services in the United States starting in 2010 and the company has selected Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent as primary network vendors to build the network's underlying infrastructure. The news comes after LTE trials began in the U.S. and Europe.

Those field trials, in Minneapolis, Columbus, and New Jersey, and globally in Budapest, Dusseldorf, and Madrid, have demonstrated download rates of 50 to 60 Mbps. Basic Internet usage such as e-mail and Web access will be improved, as will video downloading and business and application services. The announcement is a step forward in enabling true global wireless broadband. Verizon will use its recently acquired 700MHz spectrum for LTE deployment in the U.S.