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Verizon Wireless customers still waiting for 4G LTE to hit their town should get their wish by the middle of next year.
Speaking at a Wells Fargo Securities technology conference yesterday, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo confirmed that the carrier is eyeing mid-2013 as the completion date for its LTE rollout. That timeframe is around six months earlier than the company had previously predicted, according to news site Fierce Wireless.
“I was confident in the first quarter when I said that you’ll see an acceleration of our growth through the year, and I think that’s proven to be correct,” Shammo said.
Verizon has been very aggressive at doling out its LTE network. Early last month, the carrier said it would surpass its year-end goal of hitting 400 markets with LTE two months ahead of schedule. By October 18, the company had already reached 417 markets in the U.S.
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A full 250 million people are now covered by Verizon’s LTE network, around 80 percent of the entire population in the country, Fierce Wireless added. Verizon’s goal is to reach at least 260 million people by the end of this year.
By the middle of next year, Verizon expects to match its 3G CDMA coverage with LTE so that all of its customers can take advantage of 4G speeds.
Verizon’s Share Everything plans are also being “well received,” Shammo said.
Existing customers can stick with their current plan. People new to Verizon are required to subscribe to the Share Everything plan, which shares data among different devices or people. But Shammo said that a number of existing customers have also opted to move to the shared plan.
