Verizon and AT&T cross swords over 4G plans
As VZW promises 147 LTE markets by year end, AT&T claims its HSPA+ investment will give it the edge, eventually
Published: 23 March, 2011
READ MORE: US | Verizon Wireless | AT&T | HSDPA | LTE
Having spent the first day of the CTIA Wireless show being forced to respond to the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, the big two carriers were determined to shift attention to their 4G plans on day two. Verizon Wireless detailed the next phases of its LTE roll-out, while AT&T claimed its own LTE services might be later, but they would be superior because of its HSPA+ technology.
Verizon named a further 59 markets that would have LTE services by the end of this year, which would bring the total to 147 cities, towns and some rural areas. The cellco had already turned on 39 markets in December and listed a further 49 at the CES event in January. Having got a smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, to market far earlier than anyone had expected a year ago, the company can be a bit complacent about its ability to deliver on its 4G promises.
That throws down a major gauntlet to AT&T, whose LTE roll-out - already brought forward in response to Verizon's speediness - will not begin until later this year. In the meantime, like T-Mobile, it is forced to market HSPA+ services as '4G' in the hope of confusing the US public. It may well succeed, but that begs the question of how it will make a distinction to the users once it launches LTE.
One key differentiator will be the combination of the two networks, insists Kris Rinne, SVP of architecture and planning at AT&T, during FierceWireless' Path to 4G event. Making the point that AT&T was the only carrier deploying both HSPA+ and LTE, she said: "Why is that important? It's about customer experience. It takes years to build out networks. In the early days of LTE when customers move from LTE to HSPA, it will be a very smooth transition, much different than some of the other competitors."
However, Verizon has taken the view that it will minimize annoyances for users handing off between LTE and CDMA, because its LTE coverage will be so wide so quickly. For this reason, it is not bothering to invest in systems to support fallback to CDMA for voice calls when a customer moves out of an LTE zone. Although the call will break in this situation, it will be a rare occurrence, insists the cellco. CTO David Small reiterated the point at CTIA, saying: "At the velocity at which we are pushing LTE markets, this becomes a non issue."
Small also said Verizon has been investing heavily in modern Ethernet backhaul and will use this in all the markets listed for phase two of the LTE roll-out. He is pleased with the wide range of choices in the fragmented backhaul sector, where he said no fewer than nine vendors responded to one RFP. In some areas the carrier may also make leasing agreements with Ethernet backhaul wholesalers, and it does not necessarily favor its parent firm's own fiber, he insisted.
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