Verizon Wireless has announced that its ‘XLTE’ network – which aggregates 700MHz 4G spectrum with 1700MHz/2100MHz advanced wireless services (AWS) frequencies – is now live in 400 markets. The cellco achieved the milestone after rolling out the enhanced technology in six new markets, namely Madisonville and Owensboro (both Kentucky), Marshalltown (Iowa), Meridian (Mississippi), Martinsville (Virginia) and Traverse City (Michigan). The XLTE network went live in May 2014, boasting coverage of 250 cities at launch.
In other news, Verizon has detailed the progress of its ‘LTE in Rural America’ programme – five years after the initiative launched. A press statement reads: ‘The LRA programme, introduced in May 2010, now covers about 2.6 million people in areas totalling more than 100,000 square miles, from rugged stretches of Alaska to rustic areas of Kentucky and myriad sparsely-populated areas in thirteen other states. Currently, 21 rural wireless carriers participate in the programme.’ The scheme sees Verizon lease pockets of its 700MHz spectrum to rural carriers so that they can roll out LTE networks of their own, over which Verizon has roaming rights.
