Verizon Confirms Fiber Backhaul to LTE Sites in 25 States

Verizon Global Wholesale will provide variable capacity fiber-optic links between cell sites and switching facilities to support Verizon Wireless' forthcoming LTE network. Specifically, Verizon Global Wholesale will be provide fiber between more than 3,500 Verizon Wireless cell sites and the company's mobile telephone switching offices in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The fiber backhaul will carry cell site traffic of all kinds - voice, Internet and video - as packetized data over fiber-optic Ethernet private line links to and from network switching facilities.



"There can be no weak links in the Verizon Wireless LTE network chain, and Verizon's network facilities and services not only are robust and reliable, but use the latest technology to offer the capacities and speeds LTE will demand," said Quintin Lew, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon's wholesale group. "We are proud to have helped with the initial trials in Boston and Seattle. We appreciate the tremendous leap that LTE represents for wireless broadband services and are committed to supporting the Verizon Wireless vision of the 4G network with ultra-reliable networking that can be scaled up as the LTE network flourishes."

Nicola Palmer, Verizon Wireless network vice president, said, "We had thought that providing Ethernet backhaul as an LTE enabler would be the long pole to launching LTE. That's not proving to be the case. Verizon is delivering on their promises to help us grow capacity and maintain reliability in our network."


In addition, Verizon Wireless confirmed that its LTE rollout plan is on track to deliver the nation's first 4G LTE service to customers in 25 to 30 markets, covering roughly 100 million people by year's end.

LTE trials in Boston and Seattle have indicated that the network is capable of peak download speeds of 40 to 50 Mbps, peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 Mbps and average data rates of 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world environments.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/lte