According to a report by TechCrunch.com, Verizon is planning to launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) services across its key markets in the first quarter of 2010, in an effort to beat rivals such as MetroPCS to market. As reported by CommsUpdate on 15 April, Verizon officially plans to begin testing its networks by the end of 2009 before commercially launching services in the second quarter of the following year. The latest report however, which cites unnamed sources, asserts that limited trials are already underway as the company looks to become the first to bring LTE to the US mobile market. In March 2009 MetroPCS announced that it was aiming to introduce LTE to its network in the second quarter of 2010.
Meanwhile, Verizon has announced that it attracted 1.1 million net new customers to its network in the second quarter of 2009, ending June with 87.7 million subscribers in total, 85.2 million of which were retail customers contracted to its ‘Verizon Wireless’ brand.
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