The smartphone market in the United States has grown by nearly 50% in the past twelve months. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and their Android operating system, the iPhone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research in Motion‘s (NASDAQ: RIMM) struggle to stay relevant, and Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ: MSFT) renewed ambitions in the market all dominate headlines. When it comes to the telecoms supporting the major players in battle for smartphone, discussion has tended to focus on who’s got exclusive deals with which manufacturer, a topic that will dominate in the next six to seven months as Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Sprint (NYSE: S) all begin to establish their new long-term evolution (LTE), 4G networks.
This week, Verizon announced the specifics of their 4G service rollout in 2011. Verizon Wireless executive Tony Malone told the Associated Press that the company’s LTE network will launch in 60 airports and 38 cities in the United States over the course of 2011. The new network will allow mobile devices of every stripe to transmit data upwards of 10 times faster than on Verizon’s current 3G network. Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Seattle, and major cities in both New York and California are targeted as starting points for Verizon’s new network. At the same time, Verizon plans to continue expanding its existing 3G network. The announcement of Verizon’s plans, in addition to persistent rumors about a new Verizon iPhone from Apple, have given Verizon a major boost in recent weeks. Shares peaked at $33.57 on Tuesday, up 10% from just one month before. The company has stayed strong at the end of the week, even after losing face after announcing that they were issuing refunds to 15 million customers who were said to be accidentally charged “mystery fees” for data use.
Verizon’s competitors are working fast to establish their own networks. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment conference, AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey said that his company was rushing to have its own LTE network ready for a mid-2011 launch. He confirmed that AT&T was conducting LTE trials in both Dallas and Baltimore and working with partners Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to have the network ready. Sprint, meanwhile, is also testing their 4G network in Los Angeles and Orange County. A report at The Orange County Register says that California State students using HTC Evo 4G phones are already able to access the network, but that the high-speed data transfer wears down current handsets battery life.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
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