Verizon Wireless plans to launch the new 4G Wireless in 2010 which is targetted at rural America. But extending the network to every nook and crack in the U.S. will likely take years.
Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon Wireless, said during an interview at the CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow that the new 4G network that the company is building will blanket the entire continental United States, including the far corners of rural America.
“The licenses we bought in the 700MHz auction cover the whole U.S.,” Melone said. “And we plan to roll out LTE throughout the entire country, including places where we don’t offer our CDMA cell phone service today.”
If Verizon makes good on this promise, it will be helping to bridge a widening gap between broadband haves and have-nots in this country. While Verizon Wireless’ parent company Verizon Communications and other broadband providers have concentrated on building wireline broadband infrastructure in densely populated areas, such as cities and sprawling suburbs, they have not done a good job of extending that infrastructure to rural America.
